JARED BUCKHIESTER

Buckhiester’s art is recognised for its inventive approach to figuration and form, often assembling ceramic sculptures from modular parts and developing imagery that feels both personal and enigmatic. His work has been the subject of institutional solo exhibitions and is included in major collections such as the Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

Early Years

Born in the mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1977, Jared Buckhiester grew up in the American South before moving to New York. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute in New York and his MFA in Sculpture from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson in 2012. Buckhiester currently lives and works in New York, where he also teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Jared Buckhiester Artworks

Buckhiester’s contemporary art practice is led by intuition, beginning with drawing and evolving into painting and sculpture. He is known for creating ceramic sculptures composed of separate, interchangeable parts—bases, legs, torsos, heads—assembled and reassembled like collages until a final form emerges. His works often function as fragments of a larger, incomplete story, with each piece offering a new iteration or perspective.

Drawing and Painting

Drawing is foundational to Buckhiester’s process. He revisits forms and gestures across media, translating them into paintings and works on paper that echo the themes and imagery of his sculptures. His paintings, such as How is a body to know what’s coming (2024), use oil and charcoal to explore the expressive potential of the human figure.

Ceramic Sculpture

Buckhiester’s ceramic sculptures are notable for their modular construction and collage-like assembly. The artist pieces together bases, limbs, and heads, allowing for variations and improvisation. Each sculpture stands as a unique ‘character’ or ‘fragment’, contributing to a broader narrative about identity, sexuality, and transformation.

Installation and Narrative

Installation is central to Buckhiester’s practice. The arrangement of works in space is as important as the individual artworks, with sculptures and paintings interacting to suggest stories that are never fully resolved. This approach was highlighted in his solo exhibition No heaven, no how at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, curated by Hilton Als (2024).

Select Public Commissions

No major public commissions are documented to date.

Select Awards and Accolades

• Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2015)

Exhibitions

Jared Buckhiester has been the subject of both solo exhibitions and group exhibitions at important institutions. Below is a selection of important exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• No heaven, no how, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2024)
• Dunes, Portland, Maine (2023)
• Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, New York (2021)
• Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee (2018)
• Squad D, Feature Inc., New York (2012)
• The Naked and the Clothed, Thomas Rehbein, Cologne (2012)

Group Exhibitions

• The Writing’s on the Wall: Language and Silence in the Visual Arts, Hill Art Foundation, New York (2024–2025)
• elbow fist to make, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2023)
• Toni Morrison’s Black Book, David Zwirner, New York (2022)
• One Day at a Time: Manny Farber and Termite Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018)
• The Look of Things, Soloway, Brooklyn (2015)
• A Perspective on Agnès B.‘s Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Lille (2015)

Jared Buckhiester FAQs

Ocula | 2025