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Jesse reno lives and works in his home studio in Portland, Oregon.

Born, 1974 in teaneck, NJ.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 BLK/MRKT Gallery, Culver City, CA
Brick Lane, London, UK
The Life, Portland, OR
Local 35, Portland, OR
Pi Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2006 Local 35, Portland, OR
Zeitgeist Gallery, Portland, OR, "100 paintings 500sq ft"
Pi Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO, "Personal History"
2005 Fix Gallery, Portland, OR
Milk Studio, Portland, OR
Corridor Gallery, Seattle, WA, "Feral Visions"
Local 35, Portland, OR
Backspace, Portland, OR
2004 New American Casuals, Portland, OR
Milk Studio, Portland, OR
The ID Gallery, Easton, PA
Blah Blah Gallery, Plano, TX, "Politically Motivated"
2002 Hoopla Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 BLK/MRKT Gallery, Culver City, CA, "BMG Artists Annual"
Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, "These Bagels are Gnarly"
Anno Domini, San Jose, CA, "Fresh Produce"
Bell & Wissell, Seattle, WA, "Beast Show"
Telus Ski & Snowboard Festival, BC, CANADA, "Brave Art"
Wind Up Gallery, Pheonix, AZ
Encinitas, CA, "Brave Art"
2006 BLK/MRKT Gallery, Culver City, CA, "BMG Artists Annual"
Sikkema Jenkins & Co., Chelsea, NY, Visual AIDS "Postcards From the Edge" Benefit
Upper Playground PDX and FIFTY 24PDX Gallery, Portland, OR, "New Scenery"
Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, "Brave Art"
Alberta College of Art and Design, Alberta, Canada, "Said and Done"
The Works, Edmonton, Alberta, "Push"
Anno Domini, San Jose, CA, "Fresh Produce"
Backspace, Portland, OR, "Nowdays Shuffle"
Telus Ski & Snowboard Festival, Whistler, BC, "Brave Art"
Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, "Integrate"
UNK Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT, "The Board Show"
Anti Social Gallery, Vancouver, BC, "Said and Done - Collaborative Project number two"
Feral Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, "Feral Art Tour"
2005 A.D. Gallery, San Jose, CA, "Fresh Produce"
Local 35, Portland, OR, "Vans Custom Shoe Show"
Popmart, Bethlehem, PA
The Goodfoot, Portland, OR, "Vinyl Killers 3"
Adidas Store, Portland, OR, "Solomon Custom Snowboard Show"
2004 Zeitgeist Gallery, Portland, OR
Ahlum Gallery, Easton, PA
NAC - Portland, OR, "Sneaker Pimps"
Hoodoo MO Gallery, Hannibal, MI
Outsider Gallery, Rockland, ME
Eye Candy Studio, Kutztown, PA
2003 Xender Arts, Sarasota, FL
The ID Gallery - Easton, PA, "Perfect 8"
The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA, "The Gun Show"
2002 Open Space Gallery, Allentown, PA
Steel City, Bethlehem, PA
2001 Toast, Stroudsburg, PA
LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
2007 Mural Fest, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, "Connection through Creating"
2006 Portland Community College, Portland, OR, "Becoming A Self-Supporting Artist"
COMMISSIONS
2007 Local 35, Portland, OR, Exterior mural
Mural Fest, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1000 sq. ft. mural
2006 Local 35, Portland, OR, Dressing room installation and exterior mural
Click, Portland, OR, cover illustration - Another Sky Press
2005 Local 35. Portland, OR, dressing room installation
Santa Fe Reporter, Santa Fe, NM, cover illustration, Jan 26th edition
Bishops Barbershop, Portland, OR, interior mural
Laughing Horse Political Bookstore, Portland, OR, exterior mural
Pigwood Skateboards, Los Angeles, CA, Ragdoll deck art
2004 NAC, Portland, OR, exterior mural
PUBLICATIONS
2007 Pool Tradeshow, Silverlake, CA
Pique News Magazine, Whistler, Canada, March 29th
Portland Funbook #2, Portland, OR, Published by PSILO Design Group
Invision, Portland, OR, Published by ArtPDX and Another Sky Press
BLK/MRKT Two, Los Angeles, CA, Published by BMG and Die Gestalten Verlag
2006 Juxtapoz, San Francisco, CA, April, Issue 63
BLK/MRKT One, Los Angeles, CA, published by BMG and Die Gestalten Verlag
PDX Magazine, Portland, OR, June Issue
Beasts, Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics Publishing
Outside The Lines, Portland, OR, published by Another sky press
Portland Fun Book, Portland, OR, published by PSILO design group
Artension, Paris, France, September - October issue n?31
2005 Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, Jan 5th edition
On The Wall, Portland, OR, Published by Jones Design/VANS shoes
Merged, Allentown, PA, Oct 26th
Color Magazine, Vancouver, Canada
2004 RAWVISION, Radlet, Herts, UK, Issue 51
Willamette Week, Portland, OR
Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar rapids, MI, March 11th
Easton Express, Easton, PA, Aug 7th
EDUCATION
Self taught - mixed media painter
Drawing since age 5, exhibiting since 2001

PRESS RELEASE for BLK/MRKT GALLERY

JESSE RENO: SYMBOLS AND BEINGS

Los Angeles— BLK/MRKT Gallery is proud to announce Symbols and Beings, the first Los Angeles solo exhibition of Portland-based artist Jesse Reno.

The innate beauty of Reno’s engaging, many-layered paintings invites the viewer into the artist’s complex personal mythology, which seeks to explore the increasing disconnect between humanity and nature. Each work can be read as a segment of a continuing allegory concerning humankind’s struggle to find our rightful place in the natural scheme of things. Terming people “the most domesticated of animals”, Reno works to recall the wild origins of the human soul and does so convincingly.

It follows that anthropomorphism figures heavily in Reno’s work—human features and physiques coalesce with characteristics of iconic beasts such as snakes, birds and deer—evoking feelings of compassion and idealized innocence that play against recurring themes of angst and entrapment. These visual symbols and the occasional use of typography are evocative of cave art and petroglyphs, and much like the visual traces left by pre-historic societies, these works function not as ends in themselves, but rather as portals into an ineffable understanding of human existence. Inspired as he is by aboriginal and prehistoric societies, Reno terms his art neo-primitivism, a term which captures both the roots of his practice and his aspirations for renewal.

Entirely self-taught, Reno decided early in his career to forego formal training, opting to develop his individualistic style through a prolific and exuberant output of creation. His materials range from acrylic paint and oil pastels to colored pencils laid primarily over wood panel and canvas. He generally works on five to ten canvases at once, apportioning equal time to each, in the interest of allowing the thematic content to germinate organically. Open as the artist is to the unfolding of subconscious content, his paintings emerge as pieces of a dreamlike mythic narrative.

Reno’s work serves as a festive call for redemption; there may be monsters secreted in the confines of his privative schemes, but it soon becomes clear that these monsters are reflections of the human ego grown out of control and in disproportion with nature. In assimilating the message that individuals have the power to change for the better, the viewer understands that Reno, beyond being an artist, is able to assume the role of contemporary shaman—accessing totemic symbols for the purpose of restoring equilibrium between human beings and the environment—reminding us that the Earth is, in fact, our natural habitat.

BLK/MRKT Gallery, located in the heart of the Culver City Art District, was established in Los Angeles in 2001 with an emphasis on new contemporary art. Artists include Tiffany Bozic, Jeff Soto, Dave Kinsey, Ben Tour, Marion Lane and José Parlá. BMG is open Tues. – Saturday 11-6pm. blkmrktgallery.com


truth will measure...
without absolution - we meet in the stars - the constellation which is constant and unified beyond absolution - the biggest picture - like a human to an amoeba one million beyond counting.. one self until it is part of all things – something else.. - knowledge – All already trapped in absolution. We must re convene in the stars.. we are amoeba..

monkey see monkey do. be aware of your position – we are all transactions - this is our system - so we may live like kings.. i do not like kings why are we trying to live like them? servants instead of gods..

Nothing is without meaning – without meaning there is nothing – we may be born again but to grow we must remember who we were before. I seek to engage with shamans.. still even such greatness should not confuse your own visions. It is a confusing world of things all used up.. teachers and systems. objects claim self importance while we fumble to collect them..

the sad reminder of stupid people

become - without a nest - flowers will collect us - this is how you got here..

shaman with similar visions – this is universal wisdom – you've never had a vision? comparing shaman like a coincidence. The similarity is the truth between spirits there is only one whole – everything

the cup is completely empty – this is existence. writing the days visions to let the mind rest, to relax these sore shoulders to tell the stories of tomorrow. to be free from kings to extend ideas through images – i seek to meet with shaman.. and you?

the skeleton of Icarus still dreams for its bones. there is no one watching if you don't look back. a dead past will kill you if you stay. he comes in peace. engaging with animals. you can not force a random act. knowledge does not equal wisdom. whole moon – cursed -

sail forward.

god made the ocean out of tears – close your eyes tight and maybe sprout wings...

bee keeper – when you destroy the forest how will you transcend into the soil? learn to visualize. question what you see not that you see it. you spent half your life waiting to be someone else, now you don't know how to be yourself..

guardian of the pharaoh. 3 spirits. fertile ground. back to the sea from which it came

amnesia – it is hard to know the outcome. an old cobra collects eggs. They came by boat to find the new world. Now they can not remember where they came from.

You can not close what has been opened

conquest the journey of lies – there is no good in conquest. Control is always wrong. They came in the boats - like the backs of snakes. Some sort of new wisdom a new order. Not on a quest but a con quest. A journey of lies. To conquer. Spreading knowledge rather than wisdom. Not division or unity – simply system. The lines of man are not his nature.. we must forget what we know before we can learn something new. flowers will collect us. A stone in a patch of daisies. little did i know not even whales are safe. someday there is no brighter side. you have no idea what your dealing with. you speak more than you listen your actions will tell your intentions. before stars before boats when there were many whales and unicorns natives knew the truth. every exploration contaminates. we removed our feathers to blend in with boats - snakes arrived - soon no one wore feathers or believed in the magic of bears. we must concentrate to decipher our visions. They can be beyond the logic of molecules. this was the day i realized i came from the sea. i am a Thunderbird... many arguments confuse the past and ruin the future. caught between being a man and a bear – transformation - 13 cycles - a vessel reduced to its core. when a phoenix greets a bear. history will answer questions you can not change. tangled in bear traps they will carry forward under masks. In the end Truth will measure..

- jesse reno


THE NATURE OF MAN...
All that is specific to human kind -

Religion
Empire
Control
Ownership
Greed
War
Class
Race
Righteousness
Lies

Man separates himself from all other species, he uses his sense of consciousness to claim righteousness and self importance within the animal kingdom... he control cages and consumes any species of animal in anyway he sees fit... for pleasure power ego and exploitation... to do so he avoids his own consciousness by learning to lie to himself, he uses all his creations to distance himself from responsibility for the actions his conscious deems wrong... along the way he creates right and wrong to justify his actions and control the actions of other who might threaten him... he creates a god in his own image to take ultimate responsibility for those things he would rather not claim, religion is mans ultimate scapegoat... man creates angels and devils to guide him in an attempt to keep his lying conscious from getting him into too much trouble, and to blame for the actions he himself can not excuse... He seeks to control and secure his life at every turn believing he deserves more with each new day... he works and saves to achieve more and more control over his life, he follows trends and ideas thru popular opinion, he uses the opinions of the masses to secure his sense of righteousness... he then builds on these ideas to further separate himself from nature and even the rest of mankind... All along caging himself, feeling more and more alone, feeling more and more afraid and confused with the world around him... Fighting wars he does not understand... paying taxes to a system he knows only as empire... Breaking down all that is around him in terms of money class control ownership laws morals rules and gods all created and explained by his surroundings... when and if he stops to think for himself he will realize he is responsible for his own entrapment, and the animals he thinks he is above are free making all decisions based on personal instinct... the only true right or wrong... a personal decision made out of basic survival...


CIVILIZATION AND CONQUEST BY SYSTEM

mans evolution has moved him towards civilization and man made systems rather than syncronicity with nature.. man recreates the rules of nature within his system structure. Favors and traits are passed down by dollars that maintain the dominant strains. A name breeds more success than genetics, this puts power in unworked hands. There is recklessness in spoil. All is reduced. Personal truth comes second in a world where all is paid in bills. He writes the bills, so he collects them. bills are written to serve man not nature. The truth somewhere in nature - occurring on its own... - six men rush to claim it in the name of nation. Responsibility lies in weight. Purpose and understanding. The most domestic of animals man claims and controls almost all the freedom in the world....


PROCESS

this is the story that tells itself to me, the wieght of personal truth regardless of its outcome. My work acts for no reason other than to convey an inner struggle for expression... simple and direct. open for interpretation. always with purpose. words mispelled left out just like real thinking, the disconnected string of thoughts that guides the day. this is my expression.. 200 times this year ive painted random layers of self introspection and visualization.. expanding and growing through trial and error. the paintings thicken with purpose as time goes on with each new thought learned, and each layer created, confirmed, rethought, re identified, and tested until it is true or removed.

i approach painting with random intentions to give a sense of natural order.. its integral to my process, as well as my intentions. i attempt to find meaning thru seperating myself from my thougths and then following them thru my actions. i generally work on 5 to 10 paintings at all times so i can jump between them all, and stay busy i try not to get to caught up with any one piece until it nears its end. i feel this keeps my self editing more honest, it keeps me from getting to atatched to one idea, and allows me to move on to follow rather than lead my thoughts. this is what i strive for more than anything in process, following what i see. i generally work on pieces in many small sessions so my assessments are new and fresh each time i sit down to work a piece. in the final stages i tend to make sense of the imagery and add any final touches. often it isnt until a painting is almost completely finished that i understand its meaning

My art relates to primitivism in the purest sense, it comes from within with strong belief. The images search for pureness in expression and connection beyond language... As in primitive cultures my creations remain pure as if they are my visual diaries, free from the concerns of technique, preconceived ideas, meaning, or concern for what has come before... they come from within, and manifest as expressions of the world that surrounds, like gods created in ones own image, a reflection of self...



Symbols

 

Circle - repetition, a lack of progression potential madness            

Square - opportunity, potential progress                                          

X - negativity, something to be avoided                                   

Line - directness, moving in moments, reacting rather than acting

Five lines - there is no point in keeping score

Crown - the king is always In control

Stars - accomplishment

 

Figures 

Jesus - is helpless you must help yourself

King - seek to control

Angels - attempt to help you

Coffins - are for the dead

Tophats - business men have money on there minds

Dunce caps - idiots can be smarter than you think

Swans - remind us to come to the pond

Devils - are always waiting

Totems - are truth

Primitives - are pure and instinctual

Clowns  - are not to be trusted

Factories - make the sky black

Trees - are more civilized than man

Hollow - chalk outlines of someone who used to be there

Pegs - are helpless

Money - will make us all corrupt

Icarus - be aware of your rise

Rabbits - caught in headlights

______________________________________________________

 

STATIC 13 - listen

Just holding on square knot slights the edge

Where are all my friends

Distance has its consequence

The bears lay there guns uninspired

Multiplied

I wish I could walk away take off this head lay face down and forget

Forget all of it

Substance transparent stop block cut and move

The sequel will be better

The sequel will be better

 

Short fuse

Gold chain

Saw

Everything you ever see

Blackhole absent prosthetic south paw

Mix spit with plastic and hope it doesn’t pop

Black eye blue lips im sorry your upset

I cant stop

Foot in mouth no excuse

That was yesterday

Today I just want to sleep

Today I just want to sleep

 

I cant breath

Id rather not understand

You all move so quickly

Echoes synchronize

Propetual ice age

Flat space

Road rage oblivious

Human stares beast

Instinct replaced

Sins and forgiveness

Trade moments for prayers

Souls for vanity

Mirrors occupy the wandering eye

Beautiful chaos floats in the tigers eye

Strange moments reflect and diolate

Black eye block out face down walk out

Still cant help but question

 

Is it getting better confined to numbers

What have you done

Sterilized the children

Insecurity evident

Bold face fills the page

The serenity of ignorance represents my tension

The arrogance that comes with size

Ones and zeros the objectivity of numbers

Leaves everything numb and fumbling

No evidence

Accusations

Mass interpretations

Misunderstanding

Self introspection

Explination

Determination

Propaganda

Silence creates its own words

I don’t belong here

I don’t belong here

 

Consume conform

Consumed conformed

You are now a product

Freedom is just a word but I use it

Labled priced and sold

With every word defined in our own terms

What the fuck are you saying

Meaning lost

Identity assigned

Pieces sorted in terms of change

No peace

A little too much money left to spend

Red handed

We walk in circles

 

Backlash vertigo

Saturday afternoon questions your vision

The effect unpredictable

Circles change reality

You stop yourself

Lines kept in line

Things change when your blind

Things change when your blind

 

I am not a product

Fuck the consumer

Fuck the warnings

Fuck whats safe

I am not a commercial

Fuck whats cool

Fuck what your friends think

Fuck what anyone thinks

I am not propaganda

Fuck the hype

Fuck explanaition

Fuck shock

I am not a salesman

Fuck what sells

Fuck the measure of your dollar

Fuck the consumer

Fat slack and dollar

Fuck your stolen inspirations

 

Alien tries to escape

Of course no one understands

The tv is right in front of me

The lie is right in my hand

Stars remind me im not home

Microscope

 

Plastic smile skin falls off

Sterile pail and rusted cans

Can you even know your name

Aren’t you just like me static 13

Broken channel

I saw it on the tv

Everyone will be saved

And everything will be sold

Everyone will be saved

When everything is sold

Everyone will be saved

When everything is sold

 

LINKS