Alex Jackson

Artist Statement:

My work investigates the values and ideas we project on the environment, the distinctions we draw between the natural and the cultural, and our strange desire to contain and grasp reality in aesthetic objects. I make paintings and drawings about cultural ideologies and perceptions of nature, and how these intersect with the aesthetic operations of image making and representation.

Images and artworks play an important role in the cultural activity of viewing and interpreting landscape and nature. Social and political values are promoted and contested in the interpretation and representation of nature. Concepts of freedom, property, wildness, resources, sexuality, and national or regional identity are projected onto landscape in the process of aesthetic production and consumption.

Meaning is produced through the conventions and operations of image making; subjects are framed, isolated, colored, categorized, and composed. I make these choices in an overt and “un-naturalistic” manner to foreground the aesthetic process and uncover its influence on they way we view the environment.

Alex Jackson grew up in New Jersey, has a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from the University of California at Davis. He now lives in Berkeley, CA.

His art practice is primarily based in painting, drawing and photography, but also includes installation, mixed media, and sound projects, and usually incorporates non-traditional materials. Since 1985, environmental issues have been a primary concern in his work.

His exhibition record includes shows at Catherine Clark Gallery and Southern Exposure Gallery in San Francisco, Studio Quercus in Oakland, and Peter Miller Gallery in Chicago. In 2008, Alex participated in the collaborative project of npr (Neighborhood Public Radio) as a guest DJ, sound artist, and community facilitator during their inclusion in the Whitney Biennale in New York City.

Alex has taught art and design classes at several bay area colleges and currently teaches art at San Francisco State University and Diablo Valley College.