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.

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