Jessie Burnes (b. 1995, Kansas City, KS) is a painter living and working in Chicago, IL. Burnes’ floral arrangements play with issues of falseness and theatricality in expressive mark making. She considers distortions and confusion, layering and interplaying with fantasy and reality.
Deriving her visual inspiration from the aesthetics of 17th-century Dutch still life paintings, decorative applied arts, and drawing upon the expressive techniques found in the history of theatre and expressionistic painting, Burnes deliberately chooses an image with the aim of employing it as a simulated projection. Subsequently, she deconstructs this image, only to reconstruct it, searching for, or perhaps, building meaning.
Peeling back the layers of reality to expose the profound contradictions that lie within, each brushstroke teeters between a carefully orchestrated act and a mark of explosive, intuitive expression. It's a performance infused with existential anxiety and the burden of neurotic patterns. Facades play a pivotal role in her narrative; intrigued by the deceptive veils that we construct to conceal our vulnerabilities, fears, and insecurities.
Through her practice, she lays bare the masks we wear, confronting and unveiling the illusions or facades we choose to utilize to cover up or bend truth. She aims to invite viewers to question their own facades or nature of reality, the limitations of perceptions and the multifaceted nature of truth. She hopes to reveal the most honest understanding of self, or perhaps nothing at all.
Burnes received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2021) where she was the recipient of the Carrie Ellen Tuttle Fellowship. She holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree in Studio Art, Painting from the Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas (2018). Her work has been exhibited at Pinto Gallery (New York City, NY), Patient Info (Chicago, IL), Elmhurst Art Museum (Elmhurst, IL), Research House for Asian Art (Chicago, IL) and Kansas City Artist Coalition (Kansas City, MO).