This image was also published in an art gallery magazine called
the Gagosian, the February-April 2013 issue, on page 56.

Neil Jenney:
Since I was about fourteen. I painted on junk paper.

Demian:
Does it bother you that most of your work is too large to be removed from your studio and that few people will see it?

Neil Jenney:
No, it makes me happy because most of it is pretty bad. I’ve decided I don’t want to sell my paintings. I want to keep them all!

Burwen:
Do you plan to go into the Painting Department?

Neil Jenney:
I’m seriously thinking of leaving school. One problem is that they take attendance. It’s bad because some days you just have to do something important. But then you have to be there even though instruction wouldn’t help at all. Then the inspiration is lost and it becomes a waste of time.

Gail Burwen:
What about your courses?

Neil Jenney:
Very few courses at Mass. Art pertain to contemporary thought. Many are still from the Renaissance era and don’t relate in any way to modern man. As I’m a modern man the courses don’t help me in evaluating myself. I think Art History is the most valuable course at Mass. Art. I used to have blocks against many kinds of art, especially Egyptian sculpture. I didn’t think I could ever like Egyptian sculpture. I’m the one who made myself do it. The teacher opened my eyes, but I made myself do it.

Neil Jenney:
Yes, I was aware of these schools while I was in high school as an outgrowth of the Dada movement. I was interested in Schwitter’s work — his Merz environment. I seem to be involved in Happenings, especially when I’m alone, especially in this room. I spend about fourteen hours a day in this room thinking though I might actually work about an hour. I’m surrounded by my paintings and they come alive like the alphabet of my past life.

Gail Burwen:
Does your work relate to that of Ellsworth Kelly and Jack Youngerman?

Neil Jenney:
Not as much to Kelly as to Youngerman. Kenneth Noland was a big influence on me. Many people think I’m just a great eclectic, and I can see their point, but I know deep down they’re wrong. I’ve learned so much from what’s already been done. It just helps me to advance faster. Mass. Art students product an enormous amount of trash mainly because they don't know what trash is. They don't look at art. At least they don’t look at art in a juxtaposition to themselves. They don’t know what’s good and bad even for them.

Neil Jenney:
I got a “D” in painting. But I deserved it because I didn’t paint in school, there's no motivation there. It's bad because I had a dedicated teacher who was interested in what I could do.

Gail Burwen:
What will you do if you leave school?

Neil Jenney:
I want to paint, but the army holds no fascination for me. I’ll probably go to school where they don’t take attendance.

Bill Skurski:
How many of the large canvases are in this series and how long have you been working on them?

Neil Jenney:
Since January, there are ten or eleven.

Neil Jenney:
I feel more comfortable with large canvases. You can modulate more theoretical space with physical space. I’m trying to create a total environment. I’m working on canvases for corners and ceilings of rooms. So you can look both ways in a corner and see this thing looking at you. I guess in my subconscious I just want to be noticed.

Demian:
Why not go to New York where the action is?

Neil Jenney:
As far as I’m concerned the action is right in this room. I think I could progress faster if I could do paintings that come out the way I want them to. I’ve had a couple of successful shapes. I paint forms inside to relate to outside forms. It’s difficult to relate them when you've been used to painting on 90 degree angles all your life. There are about two successful paintings which are really monumental to me because they came out just the way I wanted them to.