Biography

Painter and sculptor Oliver Jackson’s dynamic, expressionistic work may be seen as a synthesis of abstraction and figuration. Exhibiting what San Francisco Chronicle critic Thomas Albright described as “an internal consistency of vision,” Jackson’s work belongs to no specific era or stylistic movement—it is less about Zeitgeist, or the spirit of the time, and more about the distinct qualities embodied by his singular vision.1 Jackson’s vocabulary of schematic images and forms avoids narrative sequence or a simple transcription of the world around him. Instead, his paintings and sculptures embody his actions, and record his encounter with his media, in the spirit of abstract expressionism. Jackson immerses himself in an artwork much like a composer created music—setting a mode for the work, entering the composition, and establishing its essential qualities in order to arrive at an authentic, unique articulation.
Jackson’s aesthetic interests were initially formalized at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, where he received his B.F.A. in 1958. He served in the army for two years before enrolling in the M.F.A. program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Jackson earned his graduate degree in 1963, returned to his hometown, Saint Louis, and was closely associated with the Black Artists Group (BAG) beginning in 1968. According to critic Robert Pincus, it was through his affiliation with musicians in Saint Louis—particularly Julius Hemphill, a key figure in BAG—that Jackson developed a serious interest in jazz. A number of his paintings featuring large expanses of white space in particular bear comparison to music: “They alternate passages of bold improvisation with others of carefully calculated repose, much like the use of sound and silence within a given rhythmic structure.”2 In 1971, Jackson moved to Northern California and served as professor of art at California State University, Sacramento, where he remained for 33 years, retiring in 2003.

In the mid-1980s, influential Bay Area Figurative sculptor Manuel Neri invited Jackson to stay at his studio in Carrara, Italy, and Untitled (8.85) came out of that experience. Jackson’s base material is a slab of marble that he worked into a form resembling a bas-relief sculpture in its frontal presentation. It depicts a crouching human figure with hands clasping its head and seemingly covering its ears in a gesture of vulnerability. The sculpture exudes latent energy—the figure seems caught in the moment before uncoiling and springing out of the confines of its materials. Jackson covered the surface of the marble with directional marks made with the crayons used for marking the stone prior to cutting. These brisk, intense markings describe the musculature and contours of the figure, activate the surface, and lend a painterly quality. Shallow striations carved into the limbs of the figure resemble African scarification. The figure possesses an abstract, masklike face with a nose denoted by a slim vertical incision and eyes symbolized by two faint horizontal marks flanking the nose. Untitled (8.85) is undoubtedly one of Jackson’s most successfully resolved sculptures, and the artist situates the piece in time by titling it with the month and year in which it was executed.

Throughout his distinguished career, Jackson has endeavored to use the figure as a vehicle of exploration—a way to arrive at the feelings that reside behind the imagery. He organizes the harmonies and tensions that exist within a painted composition or a sculptural form, courting ambiguity without ignoring structure. The artist thereby takes the viewer on a guided voyage of discovery, a goal far more intricate than presenting a vision of reality. Says Jackson, “The responsibility of the artist is to give back—not a reflection, but a sense of clarity about the spiritual state. He is in a position of leadership with regard to where the spiritual state and sensibility should be moving. That is his business.”3 —J. N.

1. Thomas Albright, “Oliver Jackson,” Oliver Jackson (Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1982), 6.
2. Robert L. Pincus, “Some Observations on the Art of Oliver Jackson,” Oliver Jackson (San Francisco: Iannetti-Lanzone Gallery, 1988), n.p.
3. Jan Butterfield, “Interview,” Oliver Jackson (Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1982), 28.

Oliver Lee Jackson is an African-American painter who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Iowa. Active in Oakland, California (Getty ULAN)

(SJMA Selections publication, 2004)

Lives and works in Oakland, CA.

---

Your current search criteria is: Artist is "Oliver Jackson".