Jesse Howard
Reflection Of A Community As It Is
Riverside Arts Center FlexSpace
Artist Talk: Saturday, June 17, 2023, 2:00 pm

Exhibition Dates: May 18 – June 24, 2023
Gallery hours: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 pm Artist Talk: Saturday, June 17, 2023, 2:00 pm

Please join artist Jesse Howard and gallery director / curator Joanne Aono for an artist talk on Saturday, June 17th at 2pm in the Riverside Arts Center’s FlexSpace coinciding with Jesse Howard’s solo exhibition. Reflection Of A Community As It Is.

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You cannot escape from Jesse Howard’s drawings. The over-sized figures with bold strokes of charcoal outlining exaggerated features and the vibrant washes of acrylic color grab your attention. Who are these people? What is their story? They are all part of Jesse Howard’s community, from the homeless to the church elders, the disenfranchised to the selfie-taking millennials, and the demonstrators to the friends in conversation.

Growing up on the west side of Chicago, the budding artist watched his uncles draw on the kitchen table as he observed how the characters of his neighborhood could come to life on paper. His faces of men, whether they are down on their luck or confident of stature, are drawn with equal respect. The image is absent of a background or setting, allowing the individual to maintain center stage. Inner City Blues is one such portrait of a street person, his dreadlocks wild and his red-lipped mouth agape, with his penetrating blue eyes referencing back to slavery and the master’s assault.

Raised by African American women, Jesse Howard recognized how these strong females were the cornerstones of Black culture, teaching and maintaining the rules, traditions, and opportunities across the generations. The women in the artist’s Crowns series portray the proud female elders of the church, dressed in their Sunday finest topped by lavish headwear. The triptych Moment in Time depicts a woman and man on either side of a young male figure wearing a gas mask as if he’s ready for a protest, his hands rendered as massive nervous protrusions in the foreground. The woman stands with hands on hips, the folds of her belly exposed from her tied-up t-shirt. Her dyed red hair lends to her defiant gaze as the man, a barber, his hair in long braids, folds his arms as his concerned eyes focus on the youth.

Like the late artist Charles White, Jesse Howard depicts his community as “images of dignity” and celebrates who they are. These aren’t Hollywood models but real people shown in real life situations. Howard walks the streets of Chicago and interacts with his subjects, requesting to take photographs of those who touch him visually and emotionally. The young, old, indigent, and well-off are all subjects for Howard’s emotionally charged visualizations of the Black community and the roles they play in the here and now. Continual news about racism, violence, and inequality against Black people are fuel for his drawings, pushing his fevered strokes and washes of charcoal to shout out against the injustices.
— Joanne Aono, curator

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Jesse Howard is a local artist whose large-scale drawings reflect his experiences as an African American in Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Ball State University. Solo exhibitions include Bert Green Fine Art Gallery (Chicago), South Side Community Art Center (Chicago), University Club of Chicago, and Harold Washington College (Chicago). Group exhibitions include the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, DuSable Museum (Chicago), Logan Museum (Beloit, WI), and Hofheimer Gallery (Chicago).

Howard’s art is included in the permanent collections of the DePaul University Art Museum, Beloit College, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Rutgers University, along with numerous private collections. He has received several awards and grants including a 2022 3Arts nominee, Grand Prize at the Purdue University National Drawing Exhibition, First Place at 58th Annual Beloit & Vicinity Exhibition, and the Ragdale Foundation Residency Scholastic Award. His art has been reviewed in the Village Free Press, Scapi Magazine, and Wednesday Journal. The artist has been featured in the award winning Color of Art documentary along with videos for WYCC PBS, City Vanguard, and the Alphawood Foundation.

The Artist and His Work

Riverside Arts Center
Freeark Gallery + Sculpture Garden 32 East Quincy Street
Riverside, Illinois 60546

Official Website

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Tags: FlexSpace, Jesse Howard, Reflection of a community as it is, Riverside, Riverside Arts Center