The Real Bio Of Stu Jenks
March, 2006
Recently, I was accepted into a prestigious photography show in San Diego. As part of the exhibition, they are producing a catalog and have asked each of the artists to send a one-paragraph bio and vision statement. I had an old bio on file that had been sweetened by a writer friend of mine. I added a few things, took out a couple others and below is what I sent to the curator of the show.
Born a Son of Virginia, Stu Jenks works as a photographer, writer and musician in Tucson, Arizona. His work has been shown throughout Europe and the United States. He has recently released his second CD of 'electronic spirituals', entitled "West of the Fire: Soundtracks for Photographs, Vol. 2" and a book of photographs and memoirs entitled "Circle Stories" is pending. Even though he is primarily known for his mysterious nocturnal photographs, Stu is currently working on two new photographic series; one, shooting the land of Cochise and the Chiricahua Indians in Southeastern Arizona and the other, photographing the land of his ancestors, in Northern Scotland.
Stu drinks the strongest of coffees, lives for the light in a woman's eye, and tends to appreciate the mystery of things. To view his images, read some of his writings and listen to his music, go to www.stujenks.com
Here's the thing: Nothing here is an outright lie but nothing here is the absolute truth either. All artists do this now, pumping up our accomplishments, no matter how small and leaving out the mundane. I vetted the above Bio with some friends and they helped even farther to tighten it up. We also all laughed our Asses off at how it leaves out the real truth of my life.
So.
Below is THE REAL BIO with the meat and potatoes added. Enjoy.
Born a Son of Virginia, Stu Jenks works as a photographer, writer and musician in Tucson, Arizona. (You bet. I was born in Virginia, I do live in Tucson. I work hard as a photog, writer and musician, but do I make a living at it? No. My day job is that I work as a licensed independent substance abuse counselor at the Assessment Center for Pima County Adult Probation in the Superior Courthouse Building in Downtown Tucson. I read horror stories (i.e. Presentence Reports) throughout the day, that record man's inhumanities to man and then I decide what level of substance abuse treatment these convicted defendants need. That's about 40 hours there. I put roughly another 30 hours a week, at night and on weekends, shooting, printing and cleaning up images, playing my mandolin and synth and writing and editing my words.)
His work has been shown throughout Europe and the United States. (Don't you love the word 'throughout'? Sounds like I have images in many galleries across North America and in swanky places in Paris. The truth is, my European connection is an online gallery in Spain that has represented my work for years, but has sold very little. And as far as the United States goes, I've shown in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Georgia. By my count that's eight of the fifty states.)
He has recently released his second CD of 'electronic spirituals', entitled "West of the Fire: Soundtracks for Photographs, Vol. 2" and a book of photographs and memoirs entitled "Circle Stories" is pending. (OK, I did recently release a CD of ambient music. That is true. But to say that "Circle Stories" is pending sounds like it's at the printers and will be out, in a couple of months. The truth is, "Circle Stories" has been roundly rejected by both photography and art houses and the plan now is to self produce it myself in 2008, using a printer in Hong Kong. And the reason I'm waiting until then is I need to get out from under some of the credit card debt I created by putting out "West of the Fire" and by going to Scotland in the Fall of 2005.)
Even though he is primarily known for his mysterious nocturnal photographs, Stu is currently working on two new photographic series; one, shooting the land of Cochise and the Chiricahua Indians in Southeastern Arizona and the other, photographing the land of his ancestors, in Northern Scotland. (Again, true. In 2005, I shot images in Southeastern Arizona and spend a lot of time researching the history and life of the Chiricahuas, and that that book is pretty much in the can now. Did I mention I haven't gotten Book One published yet, let alone Book Two? And by the way the Scotland series is worded, it sounds like I'm flying to The Highlands once a month to shot, driving hither and yon photographing, meditating on the graves of my clan. In reality, I spent one week in Scotland in October of 2005, shoot my ass off, and since then [this is written in March of 2006], I've been spending most of my waking moments photoshopping those images and writing about those brief travels; that is, when I'm not at the day job, writing small reports about drug addicts and alcoholics and making little circles on Arizona state sanctioned testing instruments.)
Stu drinks the strongest of coffees, lives for the light in a woman's eye, and tends to appreciate the mystery of things. To view his images, read some of his writings and listen to his music, go to www.stujenks.com. (Now pretty much all of this is true. I love coffee, but the line about the light in a woman's eye, refers to my ex-lover Annie who has beautiful eyes, but we have been close friends now for almost a year, not lovers. And I haven't seen that sexy romantic look thrown my way for many a month. But I do like the mystery of things, when I'm rolling gracefully with the punches of life, which by no means is all of the time. And yep, you can see my writings and images on my website, and my webmaster is soon putting up MP3s from my CDs onto the Fezziwig site.)
So that's the truth. If it wasn't for the day job, I would not be able to do any of my art or be able to record any of my music. Thankfully, I could still write, for typing is cheap. Sure I make some money from the images and the sounds, but not nearly enough to pay the rent on my tiny shotgun shack apartment or on my basement studio downtown. I am successful as far as feeling good about my artwork, my music, my writing, and I have a loyal fan base from a good many very good people. But I've gone into deep credit card debt over the past ten years to make this happen. And yes, I've got two books pretty much done and am working on the Scotland book now, but I'll probably have to put them out using my own money when the time come and when I have the coin.
Am I bitter? Not really. OK, maybe a little angry sometimes at American Society's illusions on how Artists should be. But most of the time, I have strong feelings of gratitude:
1) That I have the energy, the eye and the ear to do my Art and that I have a lot of people who seem to really like what I make.
2) That serendipitous opportunities happen to me all the time. This spring I'll be a part of the Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta, who has purchased the rights to one of the flame spiral shots again, to use as their logo for the convention. Plus they are flying me out to part of some panels or something like that. Not sure what yet. But I am grateful to them. And I'm happy I got the Ikon into that San Diego show in which the above Bio was written.
3) That I have good friends who I love and they me. And even though, I'm not in a relationship with a woman now, I have many relationships; with friends, artists, co-workers, God.
4) That my 51-year-old eyesight may be getting weaker but I think my artistic vision is getting stronger. This is a good thing. So life is good. Awfully good. Also long as I focus on what I have, not what I want. Not perfect at it, but I'm trying. A little better each day. I hope.