Thor Jensen Conjures Art, Spirituality, and Science at Studio Lacombe
by Steve Desroches
About halfway through the decade artist Thor Jensen has lived in Provincetown, he had a spiritual awakening. Jensen, whose first name is pronounced like “tour,” was having experiences he didn’t understand. He says he thought he was “schizophrenic.” He was hearing different voices in his head. A friend of his in town invited him to a sound healing ceremony he was conducting, something that is practiced in a variety of cultures around the world and uses various sounds for a meditative exploration of the mind and to create deep relaxation through certain vibrations. Jensen says that in the middle of the ceremony he felt things within him be released. And it was at that event that he heard that certain people are more open than others to “spiritual intrusions” and can get confused about what is really going on. Since then, Jensen has developed a ritual magic practice he describes as rooted in Arcane Hecate, something that dates back to Ancient Greece and is often rooted in liminal deities or energies that preside over thresholds, gates, and doorways or those crossing over boundaries. He operates in a trifecta of spirituality, art, and science, studying and practicing rituals—spells, if you will—which, through repeated practice produce the same results. Part of that is communicating with spirits, and that is at the focal point of his exhibition The Local Dead at Studio Lacombe, featuring his ceramic tapestries.
“A lot of the spirits I communicate with have been very catty and want to be heard more than just the background noise I’m hearing,” says Jensen. “They’re steering me in directions for certain reasons.”
In particular, the work in The Local Dead, and the spirits Jensen is primarily focused on are those whose deaths may have gone unnoticed or with no honors or commemoration. These works, which vary in size, are intricate ceramic sculptures wired together creating a cohesive piece, each a spiritual blanket of sorts for those that came before us in Provincetown, whose deaths and the reactions to them left the spirits restless. Jensen notes that of the many shipwrecks in the history of the Outer Cape, many who died were never found or that in some cases were considered pirates or outlaws, considered by political and religious thought of the day outside of civil society or the reach of God’s love. Through both his artistic and spiritual practice he mourns those that may have never been mourned before to soothe and create a more peaceful plane in that space between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Many people over time have described Provincetown as a particularly charged place spiritually, using a variety of viewpoints, language, or belief systems to describe what it is that so many have felt. Provincetown does indeed seem to be a continual laboratory of metaphysics. Perhaps being home to the oldest continuous art colony as well as a community that celebrates and encourages one to be their authentic self has led Provincetown to be a vortex of humanity, creativity, and thought of questions outsized for such a small town. But Jensen feels those vibrations that emanate from Provincetown, that echo from the past and affect the now.
“What I have found here is that the energy of this place is a catalyst, or it intensifies everything,” says Jensen. “Whatever you’ve got going on or whatever you’re experiencing gets amplified good or bad. I’ve met people that feel it’s just too much. The energy of this place can exacerbate every experience. And the more you put out the more you get back, so it’s important to put out good here. People can come here and flourish, but people can come here and really struggle with mental health or addiction. It’s a powerful place.”
In addition to his work at Studio Lacombe, Jensen often works outside the gallery world. Prior to life as an artist he was on a PhD track studying marine biology and agricultural sciences. While he dropped out of pursuing life as an academic to be an artist after his spiritual awakening, his knowledge of the marine ecosystems is ever present. He’s partnered with oyster farmers Michael and Kalliope Chute of Mermaid Menu, who have a grant on the flats of the East End. Provincetown is well into a multi-pronged effort to expand its aquaculture economy, and these oyster crops of the East End flats are a major component.
To help garner more attention to Provincetown oysters Jensen received an economic development grant from the town to create an art installation on the flats, doing so on a portion of the oyster grant belonging to the Chutes. There he created Liminal Space, a circular work that, as time passes, marine life attaches itself to, creating a living component. It’s at this site, too that he hold a variety of ceremonies, most recently one held at the full moon that included fire dancers. Oyster farming and aquaculture is intensely science-based, but Jensen’ work taps into the spiritual nature of the natural world, creating a bridge between the known and the unknown.
“Spirituality is science we don’t understand yet,” says Jensen. “It’s the physics of the universe we don’t know how to observe yet.”
Thor Jensen’s The Local Dead will be on exhibition at Studio Lacombe, Whalers Wharf, 237 Commercial St., Provincetown, September 11 – 18. An opening reception will take place on Friday, September 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information call 202.460.6826 or visit studiolacombe.com.
