About the Artist
Jennifer Mujezinovic is a self-taught oil painter and the founder of Clash Art Gallery in Bloomington, Indiana. Her artistic work is renowned for its layered, emotive portraits of women, which merge classical painting techniques with the visual language of fashion. Drawing inspiration from the elegance of editorial photography and the composure of Renaissance portraiture, Mujezinovic paints figures that feel at once iconic and intimate. Her subjects are often elongated, poised, and just out of frame, evoking the aesthetic of a painterly fashion spread that has been suspended in time.
Drawn initially to art through portraiture, she began by sketching faces as a form of emotional expression. In 2007, while living in Valencia, Spain with her young children, Mujezinovic felt an overwhelming need to paint. Since that day, she has never put her paintbrush down. She started with oil on canvas, working without sketches, building each image intuitively through layered brushwork and mood. Over the course of several years, Jennifer and her family relocated to a different European country nearly every year, allowing her to immerse herself in diverse artistic cultures. This constant movement revealed to her the shared emotional language of art in the human experience by observing similar forms, gestures, and expressions of beauty across the world.
In 2021, Mujezinovic opened Clash Art Gallery, a contemporary exhibition space dedicated to showcasing both established and emerging artists along with her own work. The gallery reflects her belief in art as a living dialogue. The dual role as painter and gallerist informs her creative process, giving her a unique perspective on both the making and presentation of contemporary art.
Mujezinovic’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows, and is currently displayed alongside portraits by artist John Mellencamp at Clash Gallery. Her work has been collected privately and publicly across the United States and beyond.
Inquire with Jennifer and Clash Art Gallery.
Artist Statement
I paint because creating feels as natural to me as breathing, like following a rhythm I have always known. To me, painting is a heartbeat, steady and instinctive. As I work, it becomes a song, a chorus of oiled brushstrokes.
My focus on the act of creation begins at the moment of conception. I apply my palette directly to the blank canvas, without a sketch, and let instinct guide me. I leave flashes of untouched canvas visible, and I mix paint directly on the surface. These gestures highlight the raw, human act of creation.
At first glance, my paintings resemble portraits, but they are not traditional likenesses. They are portraits of a feeling, of presence, of how I experience beauty. I return often to the female figure, drawn to her elegant, elongated form. Often the subject is just out of frame, as if existing beyond the canvas.
I create cameos that live between realities: between the real and the ideal, between classical portraiture and fashion editorials. Each piece balances delicacy and strength, softness and structure. They are profiles suspended in time.
My work is honest. I leave the palette visible and the texture present. You can see the entire process, right down to where the oil paint was mixed directly on the canvas. Because beauty, to me, is not about perfection. It is about presence. It is about being human.
