News
Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University Presents JED’: 30 Years of Painting by Jed Jackson
January 24, 2009
The Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University is planning an exhibition featuring paintings by an art professor whose influence was instrumental in the formation of Buffalo's best known rock band, The Goo Goo Dolls. As an art professor at Medaille College in the eighties, Jackson mentored Robbie Takac and George Tutaska who used his painting Arkansas Sunset as the cover art for their album, "JED."
JED': 30 Years of Paintings by Jed Jackson opens with a reception from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, 2009. The artist is will be on hand to give a talk and to answer questions about his work. The exhibition runs through September 20, 2009. Arkansas Sunset is featured, as well as works from collections in Buffalo, New York; the artist's studio in Memphis, Tennessee, and a private collection in Lonoke, Arkansas.
During his tenure in Buffalo, Jackson was active in the local art scene with exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and Nina Freudenheim Gallery, and served as a member of the Board of Directors at Hallwalls.
Jackson's paintings are modern mythological allegories, rich with subtle innuendos, political dissent, and emotional ambiguity. His subject matter is culled from his photographs, sketches, writings, and a myriad of commercial media. Inspiration is also derived from literary, musical, and big screen interests including: Mark Twain, Stanley Kubrick, Jack Kerouac, Gloria Swanson, W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, Leni Riefenstahl, and Tom Waits. Jackson regards his editing process as, "a manner of image sorting-a kind of improvisation."
Jackson's visual narratives reflect his cosmopolitan interest, opportunistic Bon-Vivant esthetic, and curiosity about social culture throughout the western world. His thirty-years of work echo a non-linear novel where past, present, and future crisscross. A gifted visual conservationist, Jackson is also influenced by the "gritty realism" of artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jacques Louis David, and early Edgar Degas. Jackson also looks to the work of his contemporaries including John Currin and David Salle.
Jackson, born in Fayette, Arkansas, attended Rhodes College in Memphis and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He received his Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Memphis College of Art. He is the recipient of numerous honors, awards, and fellowships from organizations including; ArtsMidwest, National Endowment for the Arts, Mid America Arts Alliance, Arkansas Arts Council, Cornell University, Tennessee Arts Commission, and recently concluded the Rocheforte-en-Terre residency sponsored by the Maryland College of Art in Morbihan, France. His work has been exhibited in over a hundred solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries from New York, Miami, and Chicago to London and Amsterdam. Jackson's work can be found in numerous public and private collections. He is currently Professor of Painting at The University of Memphis.
JED': 30 Years of Paintings by Jed Jackson was developed in conjunction with the 2009 Music is Art Festival hosted by Niagara University's Live music Committee. This exhibition was made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Additional support provided by Duane Reed Gallery St. Louis/New York www.rduanereedgallery.com, Beau Fleuve, Buffalo, New York www.beaufleuve.com and by Niagara University's Live Music Committee www.niagara.edu/rtr.
The Castellani Museum is open Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, please call Michael Beam, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at 716-286-8286.
