Artist Info: Veronica De Jesus
Bio
Veronica De Jesus received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1998 and her MFA from UC Berkeley in 2003. Her 2005 Solo show at the Cue Art Foundation, New York, explored her complex travels during her childhood. Her work has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Samson Projects, Boston; InterReview Projects, Los Angeles; Get This Gallery, Atlanta; Ridley Gallery, Sierra College, Rocklin Ca; and Paper Boat Boutique, Wisconsin. She has also had work published in the Literary Magazine, A Public Space, Brooklyn and Zzyva Magazine, SF. As well recieving reviews in newspapers and magazines such as Art Week, Inter Review, Art Papers, SF Bay Guardian, Sacramento Bee, and the Oakland Tribune of her work. Veronica is currently working on a few projects: Publishing a book for her Memorial Drawings, by the Alone Publishing Company, and will create a Guest Artist T-Shirt Project put out by the Receiver Gallery.
Statement
Memories are an important source of ideas for my work. The circumstances of my childhood and early adulthood were transient, provisional, and often precarious. To live tenuously is to learn something about how the world works. Perspectives from that time often act as a filter through which I can apprehend more recent interests and observations. Transactions of all kinds, both public and personal (and especially those that fall somewhere in-between), fascinate me. Depictions of the heroic, the prosperous, and the secure in popular culture, of the sort found on television, and in comic books, magazines, sports, and film, are often catalysts for my work. They are the promises that our culture makes to its members. Hierarchies of position and power, conceptions of the family, and the dynamics of inclusion also interest me. I am drawn to the exchanges that occur between our material economy and the hidden economies of love and acceptance.
Drawing is the core of my practice. My relationship with it dates back—and is fundamentally bound—to my earliest childhood memories. It is the most natural, intuitive medium in which to examine my past and the world around me. I believe that drawing encompasses much more than traditional definitions allow. Line is a visionary tool. A line creates a distinction. It delimits space and thereby defines the boundaries of ideas. I experiment by hanging work from the ceiling and by cutting and pasting shapes. Intricate ink work is incorporated into most of my drawings. Because my work is often personal, I try to allow the process; the relationship between myself, my tools, my hand and what I have chosen to portray, to guide my work, rather than attempting to transcribe some preconception of how the work should be. I do not erase, or correct other sorts of errors. I make a piece of art once, and when I have finished I am done. Each work aspires to be a true and complete record of the process that created it. I have discovered that “mistakes” are often more substantial and expressive (and also more honest and revealing) than more “correct” or “polished” work. I often use thick paper material such as foam board, cardboard, heavy 400lb Arches watercolor paper, as well as an array of nonstandard and found materials (fabric, stones, thread, packing material etc). I use them because they are beautiful, but also because they relate intuitively to my concerns as an artist.
I am always attempting to understand how our lives function on a daily basis and how our emotional and financial circumstances affect our place in the world and the decisions that we make.
Artist's CV
EDUCATION
UC Berkeley, 2003
MFA Sculpture/Installation
San Francisco Art Institute, 1998
BFA Interdisciplinary Studies
EXHIBITIONS
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO AND TWO PERSON SHOWS
2010
Emanate Car Show, Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2009
Do the Waive, Michael Rosenthal Gallery, SF, CA
2008
Dogkhats Journey, WC Gallery, DePere, WI (solo)
2007
Access Excess, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, SF, CA (solo)
Personal Miracles, Get This Gallery, Atlanta, GA (solo)
Asteroids and Miracle Beads, Paper Boat Gallery, Milwaukee WI. (two-person)
Ridley Gallery Sierra College, Rocklin, CA (two-person)
2005
Cue Art Foundation Chelsea District, New York, NY. (solo)
GROUP SHOWS
2009
Zyzzyva Mina Dresden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Faculty Show Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, CA
2008
Make the Art You Need, Worth Ryder Gallery(Faculty Show), UC Berkeley, CA
Book It! New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
Water Project, Thoreau Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Childish Things, Bocana Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Collaborations, Brown Street Gallery, Napa. CA
Faculty Show, Worth Ryder Gallery UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2006
Sampling Oakland, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Future Home Life, Receiver Gallery, San Francisco, CA
West Coast Windows, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
2005
Sleight Touch of Hand, Linc Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2004
Continuation, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
SELECTED EHXIBITIONS PRIOR TO 2004
Memorial Drawings, Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2004
Far Away Nearby, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA 2003
Last Show Jenn Joy Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2001
Looking Outside In, Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA 1999
Introductions, Jenn Joy Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1998
Introductions, Artist Collaborative Gallery Sacramento, CA 1995
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Visiting Lecturer, UC Berkeley Art Practices Department
Lower Level drawing course- Art 12. Spring 2009
Visiting Lecturer, SFAI, Pre College Program
Advanced Line and life drawing Summer Intensive, 2009
Visiting Lecturer, UC Berkeley Art Practices Department
Upper Level drawing course- Art 117. Fall 2008
Visiting Lecturer, UC Berkeley Art Practices Department
Currently teaching an undergraduate beginning drawing course- Art 12.
Visiting Lecturer, UC Berkeley Art Practices Department
I taught an undergraduate beginning studio practice course for two semesters.
Guest Artist Project Leader, SF State Art Education Department
I helped develop and direct art programming for the Colima Project, El Salvador
AWARDS
2008
SECA Finalist, San Francisco, CA.
2003
Headlands Center For the Arts Residency Award, UC Berkeley
Teachers Recognition Award, UC Berkeley
Eisner Award, UC Berkeley
2002
Eisner Award, UC Berkeley
1998
Senior Show Honors Award, San Francisco Art Institute
1997
Gamblin Painting Award, San Francisco Art Institute
Honors Studio Award, San Francisco Art Institute
1995
Kingsley Club Merit Award, Sierra College
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SprayBlog, SF, CA, interview 2009
Alone Company, SF, CA, published book of memorial drawings 2007/8
Access/Excess, SF, CA, hand-made show catalogue 2007
Difficult But Not Impossible, San Diego, CA, Illustrated Cover 2007
Econoculture, Alexandria, VA, interview 2007
A Public Space, Brooklyn, NY, project space 2007
Hot and Cold Massive, Oakland, CA, project space 2007
Cue Art Foundation, New York, NY, exhibition catalogue 2005
Mission Culture, San Francisco, CA, art review 2004
ZYZZYVA, West Coast, project space 1998
Art Week, Los Angeles, CA, art review 2004, 1998
Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, art review 1995