Jesse Fischer, Heras Halama, 2021.
Alumni in Short: Jesse Fischer (BoG 2020)
02.03.22
RMYBF: The alumni of the Best of Graduates exhibitions are busy and going places. Once a month, in our Alumni In Short segment, we highlight one of our Best of Graduates alumni and ask them five key questions related to topics such as their practice, current activities, and valuable recently obtained insights. Today in Alumni In Short: Jesse Fischer, 2020 Best of Graduates alumnus. At the moment, Jesse Fischer is exhibiting his work in the Noordbrabants Museum as a part of their recurrent ‘Brabantse Nieuwe’ exhibition, which highlights emerging artists. His art will be on view here until May 8th.
Name: Jesse Fischer
Age: 25
Nationality: Dutch
Graduated from: AKV Sint Joost. How long ago: 2 years (2020)
Main Medium: Painting
RMYBF: Describe your practice in short.
JF: I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. As a kid I have always enjoyed creating stories in image, stop-motion or film. By obsessively playing with images, characters and story-telling as a child, I learned to filter out certain elements from real-life and use them to create images resembling a more personalized reality. The symbolic elements I use in my work are found and collected from daily life. These could be dreams or memories, or people, objects and places that touched me- or literature, myths and certain things found on the internet. These elements shape the way I experience and form, as it were, the language in which I try to tell my stories.
RMYBF: What have you been up to since the Best of Graduates exhibition in 2020?
JF: It feels like a lot. My main focus has always been creating new work.
After graduating I had, thanks to Ateliers Tilburg, the possibility to continue my practice in an amazing studio. This is where I’ve been working ever since. Besides painting, I have also been organizing art related events, together with other artists and like minded people. This is something I enjoy doing a lot. It gives me great satisfaction creating moments in which people can have a good time.
When I wasn’t busy painting or organizing these events, I spent my time working my main job. Making money to pay for a living and to purchase new materials. I fell in and out of love, tried but quit studying in Antwerp and for the first time ever, exhibited a large number of my paintings in a museum. This museum, Het Noordbrabants Museum is located in s’ Hertogenbosch.
RMYBF: What is the most valuable insight you have gained ever since graduating?
JF: This would definitely be to have faith in the things I feel like making. Self-doubt, and therefore the act of conforming, is one of the greatest limitations I put on myself before graduating. When I finished school and participated in ‘The Best of Graduates 2020’ I came to realize that every idea is worth making a painting about. Trying to conform yourself to your expectations, or other people’s expectations isn’t going to get anybody anything. It is only going to keep things in the plain middle. This idea has really helped me accepting myself and others a lot.
RMYBF: What was it like to see your work in a museum for the first time?
JF: This has been an amazing experience. As I said before, for the first time ever I was able to see a great number of paintings in a well-lit and neat location- unlike my studio. It was nice to see the works this way, to see them as a whole, corresponding with each other.
Besides this somewhat practical aspect, it felt good to have this kind of external affirmation. I got to meet new people and hear about their insights on my work and art.
RMYBF: What are you working on right now?
JF: At the moment I am working on a triptych containing three pieces of 160x320cm. These paintings depict adolescents living a somewhat bohemian and very dandy lifestyle. Two of these paintings were exhibited at Park Tilburg on the 25th of February. I am also adjusting to the bachelor lifestyle and trying to decide what to do next. What city to move to, to study or not. I’ll figure this out in the coming few weeks.
RMYBF: What is most important to you in your artistic practice?
JF: For me, painting is the medium in which I am able to express myself. It offers me the possibility to share my stories, to share my idea of aesthetics and a way to process certain thoughts of mine. Like I mentioned before, creating images has helped me visualize parts of me that I could then show to others. This is why I started painting and have been doing it to this day. Besides this, I just really enjoy the act of painting.
RMYBF: Where do you see yourself after 2022? What are the goals you want to achieve?
JF: This depends on the coming few months as I am trying to figure out where to go and what to do. I am thinking about moving to Antwerp for some time, because the art and especially the painting scene there attracts me a lot. But lately the urge of studying again has been growing on me. This study would be ‘De Ateliers’ in Amsterdam. So, when the paintings I am working on at the moment are finished, I’ll be applying there. Hopefully I’ll get accepted, if not I’ll move to Antwerp.
To visit Jesse’s exhibition as part of the recurring exhibition Brabantse Nieuwe at Noordbrabants Museum, please visit their website for more information.
