Jane in Vain Winkelman

1949-2012

Jane Winkelman was born in 1949 on Long Island, NY into an upper middle class Jewish childhood.  She painted and left messages each day to her businessman father when she was mad at her mother.  She ended up in Berkley, CA in the late 1960’s. When her parents died, she had to take care of herself and she ended up lost and on the brink of homelessness living in the Tenderloin district.  She had lived out of suitcases for over 35 years.  Her politically aggressive, surreal, and expressive works of art were painted on 100% made with cotton handmade paper from France with acrylic paint and prismatic colored pencils.  Her funny, ironic, and political paintings are thought provoking.  “My style is hard to describe,” says Winkelman, “I’m trying to say things that I think are important where I see us as a human race.” The “in vain” middle name, she says, “signifies waking up and not realizing who you are and that you don’t know anything.”  In 1993, she had her first one-woman show.  She was commissioned to do an ad for Absolut Vodka, and her work “Dreamscape” is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  A personal note: I learned of Winkelman’s work on a visit to Lois Zetter Gallery in Carlsbad, CA.  I had stopped off there on my way to see Glen Smith’s collection of Ellis Ruley’s work.  While there, I purchased (shown here) the “America Wounded by Sneak Attack but Still Standing and Smiling” under the premise that if I could not live with it for a year, I could return it for credit at the gallery.  It is an absolutely amazing work of art and I’m still living with it as we approach the 20th anniversary of that horrendous day.  This work was featured in Raw Vision #44 and is the source of this bio.  Included here are Jane’s poetic musings on each of the arms: