Project Description

Jessica Palomo

Jessica Palomo is a phoenix-based artist who works in drawing and sculpture to investigate uncomfortable situations. She received her BFA in Sculpture from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and her MFA in Drawing from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Palazzo Rinaldi in Italy, the Contemporary Art Space in China and locally at Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona

Jessica Palomo’s work is a response to the grief of losing a loved one, a trauma that can overload and fracture the conscious mind, causing a shattered emotional state. Through abstraction and mark-making, she explores the dynamics of this ruptured reality that place identity and emotion in a liminal, ambiguous space.

By rendering only a handful of distinct organic forms, the eyes rest merely for a moment before plunging into a sea of textural marks. These expressive involuntary marks do what language cannot, intuitively creating a passageway to concealed memories, recording a trace of their complexities through drawing, and ultimately logging the intricate and multifaceted sensations of suffering in hopes of creating a truer empathetic connection. These drawings speak from the body, connecting, sustaining, and transmitting traumatic impressions with each varied gestural mark. The overall encounter is ambiguous in form and liminal in space, fluxing in perspective, and never providing a sense of clarity.

EDUCATION
2017
Master of Fine Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2007
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
2007
SMU-In-Taos, Fort Burgwin Campus, Taos, NM
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND HONORS
2017
GPSA Research Grant
2016
The Martin Wong Foundation Scholarship
2016
The Rudy Turk Scholarship
2016
The ASU Sun Angel Fine Arts Scholarship
2016
Nathan Cummings Travel Fellowship
2016
Honorable Mention, Arizona Artists Guild: Juried Exhibition, Gallery Glendale at Westgate, Glendale, AZ
2016
GPSA Individual Travel Grant
2015
HIDA Special Talent Award
2014
ASU Dean’s Fellowship
2014
Outstanding Teaching Award from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers
2012
Outstanding Teaching Award from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers
2011
High-Performance Award at FBA
2007
Charley Aberg Travel Award
2006
Mary Jones Art Award
2003-07
Meadows School of the Arts Artistic Scholarship
SELECTED SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2019
Ensnarled with Flowers, I Fall on Grass (with Cami Galofre), Eric Fischl Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Tracing Absence, Center for the Performing Arts Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Drawing Near, Rhetorical Galleries, Phoenix, AZ
2017
In lieu of flowers, Harry Wood Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2011
Growing Obsessions, Palazzo Rinaldi, Noepoli, Italy
2007
Recent Works (with Leticia Luevanos), Doolin Gallery, Dallas, TX
2004
New Beginnings (with Stephanie Spencer), Mary Hay Gallery, Dallas, TX
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Pigment, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2019
Artlink Gala, Warehouse 215 @ Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2019
In, On, and Of Paper, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2018
Reinventing Abstraction, Royse Contemporary, Scottsdale, AZ
2018
7th Annual Power of 5, Chartreuse Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2018
Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2018
Object Inspiration, Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ
2018
Young Rising Stars, Art Salon, Scottsdale, AZ
2017
Big, New City Studio, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Sculpting Science, Step Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Aftershock, Step Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Five 15 to the Power of 5, Phoenix Center for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Inverse Conversations V, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Mesa, AZ
2017
What’s Up World, New City Studio, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Materialize, Herberger Theater Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2017
Nasty Women: Phoenix Unite, Grand ArtHaus, Phoenix, AZ
2016
7th annual TAPPED, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2016
Eleven, Eric Fischl Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2016
Grey Area (with AJ Nafziger & Travis Rice), MonOrchid, Phoenix, AZ
2016
Nathan Cummings Exhibition, Step Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2016
Inverse Conversations II, 13 Contemporary Art Space, Qingzhou, China
2016
Inverse Conversations, Renmin University Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2016
Arizona Artists Guild: Juried Exhibition, Gallery Glendale at Westgate, Glendale, AZ
2016
Creative Push, Step Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015
Tiny Works | Tiny Dances, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015
somewhere between black & white, Harry Wood Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2015
In-cept, {9} The Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015
Sculpting Science, ASU Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ
2015
Order & Chaos, Xico Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015
Summer Juried MFA Show, Harry Wood Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2015
Realizations, Frontal Globe Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2014
In-Suspension, Night Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2014
Art-O-Sphere, Ice House Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2014
Chamber Music & The Visual Arts, Tempe History Museum, Tempe, AZ
2014
New Graduates, Harry Wood Gallery, Tempe, AZ
2012
Those Who Teach That Do, Pegasus Gallery, The Art Institute of Dallas, Dallas, TX
2012
125 7th Annual Juried Show, THE ARTS Gallery, Plano, TX
2012
Ink & Clay 38, Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, Pomona, CA
2012
500x Juried Show, 500x Gallery, Dallas, TX
2011
500x Juried Show, 500x Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007
Works from Taos, Doolin Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007
Recent Work, Fort Burgwin Campus, Taos, NM
2007
SMU Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, Pollock Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007
SMU Student Art Association Juried Show, 2932 Main Gallery, Dallas, TX
2006
Advanced Sculpture Exhibition, Doolin Gallery, Dallas, TX
2006
Dance Sharp Show, Owen Arts Center, Dallas, TX
2005
Stone Carving Exhibition, Doolin Gallery, Dallas, TX
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2011
Palazzo Rinaldi Residency, Summer Fellowship, Noepoli, Italy (July)

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