BIOGRAPHY
Jo Messer’s paintings push the tradition of classic nude portraiture to explore the many potentials of the genre, from the erotic to the whimsical. Her chromatic, almost abstract figures of women extend beyond the borders of the canvas, offering new perspectives on sexuality and the human body.
BORN
b. 1991, Los Angeles
LIVES AND WORKS
lives and works in New York
Color Masterclass: Artist Jo Messer Paints Bold, Organized Chaos | ArtDrunk Studio Days
SELECTED WORKS
AWARDS & EDUCATION
Awards
2013 Residency, Yale Norfolk Summer Art School, Norfolk, CT
Education
2017 MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2014 BFA, Cooper Union, New York, NY
2013 Residency, Yale Norfolk Summer Art School, Norfolk, CT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
2023 HORIZONS, Sow & Tailor Hong Kong pop up at Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong, CN
2022
Person(a), Venus over Manhattan, New York, NY
Through a Glass, Darkly, Carl Kostyál, curated by Katharine Kostyál, Milan, Italy
Emotional Intelligence, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY
I Do My Own Stunts, Spazio Amanita, Los Angeles, CA
2021
Women in Paris, Hussenot, Paris, France
Show Me Your Pony, One Trick Pony, Los Angeles, CA
Go Figure!, Spruth Magers, Berlin, Germany
The Long Winter, curated by Kenny Schacter, Maloja, Switzerland 2020
Al Fresco, New Release Gallery, New York, NY NADA, 56 HENRY, New York, NY
2019
Felix Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
2017
4 Artists, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York, NY
A Sag, Harbored, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
Yale MFA New Release Gallery, New York, NY
Yale MFA Thesis Show, New Haven, CT
2016
Sphere Spaces, The Study, New Haven, CT
Honestly Bodily, SWS Pop-Up, New York, NY
2015
Inside, Fish Bar, New York, NY
2014
The Last Brucennial, Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY
A Very Warm House, Ferro Strouse Gallery, New York, NY
The Retrospective of S, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York, NY
Born Yesterday, The Cooper Union, New York, NY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
EAT ME, 56 Henry, New York, NY 2022
2022
Jo Messer, Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
Whale Tail, The Ranch, Montauk, NY
2021
Knees to Navel, 56 HENRY, New York, NY
2020
100 Days of Solitude: Pandemic Paintings by Josephine Messer, OOPS New York, NY
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
The Hill Foundation, New York, NY
The Bunker, Palm Beach, FL
REVIEWED BY A MAJOR ART PUBLICATION
Megan Kincaid, “‘Whale Tail,’ an Exhibition by Jo Messer at The Ranch, Montauk, New York,” Purple, July 29, 2022
Will Fenstermaker, “An Art-Filled Hotel Inside a Former Wall Street Trading Hub,” New York Times Style Magazine, February 17, 202
Anne Mikaela Ekstrand, “Pattern Decoration and the New Avant-Garde at Art Basel Miami,” Cultbytes, December 3, 2021
Reilly Davidson, “Jo Messer: Knees to Navel,” Brooklyn Rail, May 9, 2021
RECENT PRESS
Purple
2022-07-29
On view now at The Ranch in Montauk, NY, a solo exhibition of nine paintings by the American artist Jo Messer. In her most recent series, women occupy insular worlds outfitted with tiled walls and seafood platters. Escaping representational accuracy, Messer’s figures bend as if flesh unburdened by bone, scrunched against the confines of the painting’s edge or slumped on top of their companions.
Brooklyn Rail
2021-05-09
Jo Messer’s solo debut at 56 Henry is focused on two large oil paintings that confront one another in the gallery’s narrow space. These two works entrap the viewer in something like a game of “I Spy.” Never static, they stimulate a strong sense of play: as soon as the eye latches onto an object or figure, it is thrust elsewhere in Messer’s restless network of potent but suggestive imagery and erotic themes.
