Exclusive Interview with Jessica Hess in anticipation of Temporal

Surfaces opening March 6th, 2010 from 7-11pm at White Walls

Jessica Hess is a Boston artist working to redefine our views of urban America. She paints the aerosol footprints of other artists that have interacted with an environment before her, nodding to their beautification of an old railroad track or junk yard. Jessica is a documentarian of the mundane, the overlooked, and the abandoned. By playing off the vivacious tags of her peers, she takes the artwork full circle from indoor to outdoor and back inside. There’s much thought behind these still landscapes, and Jessica broke it down for us nice and sweet.

Do you write graffiti/do street art yourself?

I have been doing street art for a couple of years now. I stick to the legal walls though. I paint pin-up girls with rooster heads. Gotta represent the ladies!

What did you paint before you started painting graffiti-ridden urban landscapes?

I have always painted landscapes. I look back at photographs I shot in my high school photography class and they are of old warehouses downtown. I guess I have always been drawn to this subject matter. The only difference between my current paintings and my older paintings is that my older work has no graffiti in it. Paintings of mine from ten years ago focused on more industrial subjects like power plants, rusty bridges, and oil refineries. These places tended to have better security and thus no graffiti. I slowly expanded to paint various abandoned buildings and the graffiti that found its way onto these buildings. Graffiti adds so much life and color to these otherwise dead locations.

Do you see graffiti/street art as improvements upon the urban landscape or as signs of destruction?

Street art always improves the landscape for me. I feel great when I walk the streets and see the marks left by other artists. It is a comfort. Street art is the greatest public art collaborative ever.

Is a rusty, decrepit and broke down truck more beautiful than a sparkling new one?

Always. I don’t care much for new shiny things. I am very interested in decay and weathering as a means of natural abstraction. I collect old broken typewriters. I shop in second hand stores. If an item was made in the last fifty years chances are it doesn’t appeal to me.

How do you start each painting?

Blank canvasses are so intimidating, which is why I slather a coat of color all over first thing. I keep it pretty wet and work additively and reductively. By that I mean I put a lot of paint on and end up wiping most of it off again in the first few hours. I usually begin with a monochromatic underpainting and add color once that dries. Also, I eyeball everything. I am often asked about projection and gridding and the answer is no.

What material do you use?

I work in oil and/or acrylic on canvas and sometimes on panel. It depends on what I have laying around the studio. I also enjoy gouache on paper painting and occasionally some tight 005 micron ink drawings.

How do you achieve such rich, bright color?

Sunny days and quality paint. I give most credit for good color to the graffiti artists though. They are the best colorists I know.

Do you work from photographs?

Each painting starts with a photograph. Sometimes it takes only one to get me started and sometimes I shoot a hundred. It all depends on how hard I work my references. Often times I paint true to my sources, but I have invented buildings, uprooted trees, moved highways, and changed colors in my paintings. You’d be hard-pressed to find some of the locations I paint. Some don’t even exist. I travel often and always have my camera with me. I shoot pretty much every day and take in anything and everything that strikes my fancy. I shot over 10,000 photos last year. 3,000 were from a single week in San Francisco. Yay for digital cameras. Film was breaking the bank.

Where are these sites that you paint, and why do you find them significant?

My sites are all over. I have done work form San Francisco down to L.A., from Massachusetts, New York, and Philadelphia to down South and everything in between. I have gone cross-country with my sketchbook and camera and been collecting images since I was a kid. I can’t say why a particular spot appeals to me. It just feels right.

Do you paint real tags or invent them?

Both. It depends on my composition.

Are you and Kevin Cyr on the same brain wave, or do you feel that you have very different messages through similar imagery?

I feel we are on the same page. Our work deals with evolving street art and decay. We share a positive attitude towards street art. Our subjects reflect the passage of time and the marks left by other artists.

How long do you spend on a single work?

The time spent on a single painting varies wildly depending on my level of enthusiasm. Some days I can paint for twelve hours straight and others I may only be able to sit still for one. One thing is certain however: the more excited I am about a piece, the faster it gets done. There are paintings I have been working on for years and others that get done in a week. I timed myself the other day out of curiosity. I was working on a painting that I was really excited about so it developed quickly. The painting is titled “Allston II,” it will be at White Walls in March. I started it on a Thursday night and was done by Monday morning. It took 26 hours total. That was unusually fast but it’s because I am in love with it. I can’t turn the lights off because I want to keep looking at it.

How do you have patience to get through the nitty gritty details of a painting?

This may sound awful but it is true. I have OCD and painting really helps me deal with it in a productive way. Many artists I know have OCD and I find that it benefits their work. So…it is either painting every rock by the train tracks and every brick of a building or scrubbing every inch of my floor with a toothbrush. I think I manage wisely.

Why do you leave out the actual humans in your paintings, only focusing on their colorful tracks left behind?

I am far more interested in the residual. People in the landscape are just too distracting.

Favorite artists?

I am deeply in love with David Schnell’s paintings. His work establishes a convincing landscape in perspective and at the same time smashes it to pieces while defying gravity. His color sense is superb, it makes my heart beat faster. He is one of the new German Leipzig School painters and lives and works in Berlin. I was lucky to catch the Leipzig exhibition out at Mass MoCA a couple years ago and it changed everything for me.

Favorite galleries in Boston?

I enjoy Gallery Naga over on Newbury Street. I am so happy to see all the new galleries getting together over in the South End. Walker Contemporary is another favorite.

What’s hanging on your walls?

Everything is on my walls. There is so much stuff up one can barely tell the color of the paint beneath the hundreds of salon hung paintings, drawings, and photographs. I have painted a mural in my living room and my kitchen is lined with my vintage refrigerator door collection. I am a junk collector for sure. The refrigerator doors are home to my collection of pin-up girl magnets and various sticker art. My living room is full of paintings and drawings. I am lucky to have bought and traded to establish a modest collection. I buy art from other artists whenever I can afford to. It is just good art karma.

My Love for You was in Jessica Hess’ studio earlier this week, where many curious treasures were found. Also check out the online preview for Temporal Surfaces and come by this Saturday, March 6 from 7-11pm to meet Jessica in the flesh!