Press Release

Over the span of five decades, Oliver Lee Jackson has developed a singular body of work, creating complex and layered paintings in which figural forms meld with abstract fields of vivid color. While tightly composed, Jackson’s paintings feel improvisational in approach, as gestural marks become intertwined with vivid swaths of paint and color. Building over time, each work becomes a synthesis of references that may span from the Renaissance to Modernism, filtered through what Jackson terms his ‘African sensibility.’ The resulting works eschew a single narrative or reading and instead seek to encourage the viewer to form their own emotional response. Creating multiple points of entry within each painting, Jackson states that his work is “for anybody’s eyes; any eyes will do.” This year, Andrew Kreps Gallery will present the third solo show of the artist with the gallery, opening on March 7, 2025 at 22 Cortlandt Alley.

Oliver Lee Jackson lives and works in Oakland. Originally from St. Louis, Jackson was affiliated with the Black Artists Group, which was founded in St. Louis in 1968 as an interdisciplinary collective of musicians, actors, and visual artists. Earlier this year, Jackson’s work was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, and the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA. Other past institutional exhibitions of Jackson’s work include the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2019, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, 2012, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, 2002, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1985, University of California Art Museum, Berkeley, 1983, Seattle Art Museum, 1982, St. Louis Art Museum, 1980, among others. His works are held in the public collections of The Metropolitan Museum, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Museum of Modern Art, New York, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Portland Art Museum, Oregon, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Detroit Institute of the Arts, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, among others.

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Selected Works

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About the Artist

In a career spanning decades, Oliver Lee Jackson has developed a singular body of work, created complex and layered images in which suggestions of the figure emerge from abstract fields of vivid colour. Synthesising references that span from Rennaissance painting to Modernism, and also include Jackson’s own studies of American Jazz and African cultures, his works eschew a single narrative or reading. Instead, each work becomes an invitation for close looking, encouraging the viewer to form their own emotional response, stating that his work is ‘for anybody’s eyes. any eyes will do.’

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Also Exhibiting at Andrew Kreps Gallery

About the Gallery
Andrew Kreps Gallery was founded in New York in 1996. Widening its original focus on emerging American artists, the program shortly thereafter expanded to include international artists, many of whom had their first exhibitions in the United States or New York at the gallery. After nearly 20 years of operation in Chelsea, the gallery announced it’s relocation to Tribeca, at 22 Cortlandt Alley, which opened in September 2019. The gallery additionally programs 55 Walker Street, a space jointly operated with Bortolami and kaufmann repetto. The gallery represents the work of 30 internationally active artists. Recent additions to the gallery’s roster include He Xiangyu, Camille Blatrix, the estate of Corita Kent and the work of Bruno Munari.
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Address
22 Cortlandt Alley
New York
United States
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 6pm
(1)
New York 22 Cortlandt Alley
Andrew Kreps Gallery
22 Cortlandt Alley, New York, United States
+1 212 741 8849
http://www.andrewkreps.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 6pm
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