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ARTIST STATEMENT

Since the mid 1990s, my work has involved the creation of conceptually based photographs with the body as the main point of entry. What began as narrative based work, however, quickly took a socio-political turn, and by adding text to my body via projection for my “New Intimacy project”, I began to incorporate a process that I have continued to develop.

Currently, rather than projecting text, I project representational imagery onto the human figure (both male and female). The images of food projected are essential in the “reading” of the photographs. The use of edibles such as red peppers, sorbet, jam, grapefruit, and cranberry sauce,-to name a few, creates a corporal presence.

Adding this everyday foodstuff onto the nude body via the projector invokes a struggle between arousal and repulsion, between the grotesque and the erotic. Food, which is a universal need and often an indulgence, is metaphorically depicting impermanence and transformation. The violent cropping of the head is an additional symbol used to negate individuality, and the body stripped bare acts as a reminder of our mortality and “uncompromising truth of existence” (From The troubling Nude by Donald Kuspit).

The use of the projector as both the main light source as well as the source of added imagery creates an illusionist quality within a medium whose attempt to depict “fiction” is an often times futile experiment. As layers of transparency are added to the image, the line between the “real” and the “fake” surface is blurred and the viewer is asked to suspend disbelief- to stop questioning and instead rest on the image itself.

BIOGRAPHY

Jess was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Park Slope community offered a liberal and diverse array of cultures from which Jess draws much of her inspiration.


It has been said that her work creates a sense of quiet intimacy. This is reflected not only in her abstract portraits, but also in her cityscapes, interiors, night views, and most recently in her conceptual projection work


Jess graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University where she studied with renowned photographer Thomas Roma, who quickly became her Mentor. At Barnard she was awarded the largest grant possible allotted to a single
student for her senior thesis photography project titled,
“intimate portraits: Women on the Loos.”


Photography, to Jess, offers unlimited possibilities. Photography is the
prominent force that brings harmony to her life.



Jess is currently getting her MFA at Hunter College in NYC and she works as both a Photo Editor and a wedding photographer in her “spare” time.

She was the curator and one of 8 featured artists at “The Gallery at Artists & Fleas” in Williamsburg in 2004. She was also the Gallery Director for LISTEN…NYC, a unique east village Dj shop and gallery which closed in August ’04.

EDUCATION

Hunter College, New York; Expected degree: MFA, 2009

NYU/ICP, New York; MA in studio art Program, September 2006-May 2007

ICP, New York.
From 1998-2004 studied under Various Photographers including, Amy Arbus, Harvey Stein, Andrew French, and Rosalind Solomon,

Barnard College at Columbia University, New York; BA, 1998
Major: Art History/Visual Arts. Photography Study under Thomas Roma

REPRESENTATION

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SOLO EXHIBITS

GROUP EXHIBITS

2007, Curves, From Intimacy Series. NURTUREart Benefit. Cue Art Foundation, New York, NY. Group Show

2006, Projected Rejections. MA/MFA open studios. Barney Building. The Steinhardt School of Education/NYU.

2006, Athens, from Bed Series, and Me with Me, From Ideal? Night of 1,000 drawings, Artist’s Space, New York, NY. Group show

2006, Ideal? Redhead project. LMCC, New York, NY. Group Show

2006, Bed and night series. The Brooklyn Collective. Brooklyn, NY. Group show

2006, Ideal? In Flux. Stay Gold Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show

2004, Bed and Winter Series. The Annex at David Allen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show

2004, Come Inside. Issue, East Village, New York, NY, Group Show

2004, Bed Series. Benefit for Eve Ensler’s V-Day. North 6th, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show

2004, Bed Series. Benefit for Interstitial Cystitis. Sidewalk Café, New York, NY. Group Show

2004, Night Series. The Gallery at Artists & Fleas, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show

2003, NYC Wanderings. Listen…NYC, East Village, New York, NY. Solo Show

1998, Women on the Loos. Barnard Hall, Barnard College, New York, NY. Group Show

1996, Opposites. Woodbridge Underground, Columbia University, New York, NY. Group Show

ARTICLES

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