biography

Jessie Boone grew up in Cincinnati, OH. In 1998 she moved to Athens, OH to attend Ohio University; graduating in November of 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree- concentration in painting. After graduating from O.U. she became a freelance artist and worked administrative staff for ArtWorks, a non-profit organization in downtown Cincinnati that supports/provides public art for the city. In 2005 Jessie moved to Savannah, GA to obtain her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Savannah College of Art & Design. 2010 brought her back to her hometown of Cincinnati where she works for Barefoot, a digital marketing agency, and interacts with the world as an animal charmer and freelance artist.

Jessie finds herself watching people a lot. She could sit for hours and watch the people around her because “people are most real when they do not realize that they are being watched.” They are completely themselves. Her paintings document breaches of personal space, which create momentary intimacy between strangers. The common denominator is that each person is in the midst of an introverted action in a public space. By the simple act of watching, she participates in self-absorbed moments. Her gaze never penetrates into who they are beyond what she can discern from afar; she watches them objectively. Their introversion makes it fascinating to step unseen into their situation, and anonymity becomes opportunity.

Jessie's focus is not with the people themselves, but with the action of watching. The only thing their relationship needs is for them not to notice she exists. Her works interpret personal interactions between human beings and pinpoints introspective and personal activities people have in common; specific behavior that belongs to the individual, but at the same time is shared with the population at large.

Her newest work shows seemingly banal exercises interpreted as sensual and serene. While also placing these objects on a pedestal.