JESSE SCHLESINGER
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Hope you went for a walk and the skies opened up and you got soaked and it was glorious), 2022
Found object (Sycamore), Redwood, enamel paint and fiberboard
66 x 12 x 12 inches
167.6 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
C. O., 2023
Redwood (salvaged)
7 x 13 inches diameter
17.8 x 33 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
C. O., 2023
Redwood (salvaged)
7 x 13 inches diameter
17.8 x 33 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
C. O., 2023
Redwood (salvaged)
7 x 13 inches diameter
17.8 x 33 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
C. O., 2023
Redwood (salvaged)
7 x 13 inches diameter
17.8 x 33 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Not geologic time, nor arboreal time, but its own time scale (C. O. for MP), 2022
Redwood (salvaged)
32 x 24 inches diameter
81.3 x 61 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Not geologic time, nor arboreal time, but its own time scale (C. O. for MP), 2022
Redwood (salvaged)
32 x 24 inches diameter
81.3 x 61 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Not geologic time, nor arboreal time, but its own time scale (C. O. for MP), 2022
Redwood (salvaged)
32 x 24 inches diameter
81.3 x 61 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Cypress (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
58 x 10 x 10 inches
147.3 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Cypress (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
58 x 10 x 10 inches
147.3 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Cypress (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
58 x 10 x 10 inches
147.3 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Cypress (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
58 x 10 x 10 inches
147.3 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Ceramic
15 x 13 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
38.1 x 34.3 x 16.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Ceramic
15 x 13 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
38.1 x 34.3 x 16.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Ceramic
15 x 13 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
38.1 x 34.3 x 16.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Ceramic
15 x 13 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
38.1 x 34.3 x 16.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Redwood (salvaged) and concrete
44 x 18 x 18 inches
111.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Redwood (salvaged) and concrete
44 x 18 x 18 inches
111.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Redwood (salvaged) and concrete
44 x 18 x 18 inches
111.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Redwood (salvaged) and concrete
44 x 18 x 18 inches
111.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Blue (On Exactitude in Science, farmoon), 2019
Watercolor on paper
Framed Dimensions:
7 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches
18.7 x 14 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Blue (On Exactitude in Science, farmoon), 2019
Watercolor on paper
Framed Dimensions:
7 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches
18.7 x 14 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Blue (On Exactitude in Science, farmoon), 2019
Watercolor on paper
Framed Dimensions:
7 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches
18.7 x 14 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (leavings), 2021
Galvanized steel (found) and Oak
16 1/2 x 13 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches
41.9 x 35.2 x 11.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (leavings), 2021
Galvanized steel (found) and Oak
16 1/2 x 13 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches
41.9 x 35.2 x 11.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (leavings), 2021
Galvanized steel (found) and Oak
16 1/2 x 13 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches
41.9 x 35.2 x 11.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Glazed ceramic and Walnut
7 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches
19.7 x 13.7 x 13 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Glazed ceramic and Walnut
7 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches
19.7 x 13.7 x 13 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Glazed ceramic and Walnut
7 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches
19.7 x 13.7 x 13 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Glazed ceramic and Walnut
7 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches
19.7 x 13.7 x 13 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Hope you went for a walk and the skies opened up and you got soaked and it was glorious), 2022
Found object (Sycamore), Redwood, enamel paint and fiberboard
66 x 12 x 12 inches
167.6 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
C. O., 2023
Redwood (salvaged)
7 x 13 inches diameter
17.8 x 33 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Not geologic time, nor arboreal time, but its own time scale (C. O. for MP), 2022
Redwood (salvaged)
32 x 24 inches diameter
81.3 x 61 cm diameter
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Cypress (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
58 x 10 x 10 inches
147.3 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2023
Redwood (salvaged) and concrete
44 x 18 x 18 inches
111.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Blue (On Exactitude in Science, farmoon), 2019
Watercolor on paper
Framed Dimensions:
7 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches
18.7 x 14 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (leavings), 2021
Galvanized steel (found) and Oak
16 1/2 x 13 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches
41.9 x 35.2 x 11.4 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (An imaginary bouquet of flowers from my mind), 2022
Redwood (salvaged), enamel paint and fiberboard
49 1/2 x 19 x 19 inches
125.7 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled, 2022
Glazed ceramic and Walnut
7 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches
19.7 x 13.7 x 13 cm
Jesse Schlesinger
Untitled (Truing the Whetstone), 2022
Ceramic and sandpaper
10 x 12 inches
25.4 x 30.5 cm
Photo of artist Jesse Schlesinger in his studio by Ekaterina Izmestieva
Jesse Schlesinger (b. 1979) is a multidisciplinary visual artist working in sculpture, site-specific installation, drawing, and photography. His work is fundamentally concerned with place: how the natural environment, architectural context and engagement, and historical precedent contribute to experience and understanding. Labor and craft are key elements of his practice. Inherent in this work is a reverence for material reflected in the process. His upbringing as a second-generation carpenter (with a focus on traditional craftsmanship) and long-term involvement with a small farm have jointly influenced the philosophy of his work.
Schlesinger has exhibited at galleries and museums in the US and Japan. He is a 2018 and 2020 recipient of the JUSFC Fellowship through the NEA for artistic endeavors in Japan. He is currently working towards completion of two large-scale, permanent public artworks for the city of San Francisco that will utilize bronze, concrete, wood, stone, and glass. He is a founding artist of the Minnesota Street Project Artist Studio facility in San Francisco. In 2012 he was shortlisted for SFMOMA’s SECA award.
Working in a variety of media — site-specific installation, sculpture, drawing, built environment — Schlesinger creates works that are consistently imbued with a light, poignant touch and are rooted in exploring the ideas of home, ritual and space. “Nothing to No Thing” at the Highlight Gallery’s project “3020 Laguna St. In Exitum” earlier this year involved Schlesinger living in a room in a house scheduled for demolition. Although nine other artists participated in the project, he was the only one who inhabited the house full time, gleaning from the life he spent there. Living in an abandoned building amounted to camping indoors. When I visited him, our breath was visible as we talked over coffee about the pieces he was building. Floorboards, door frames and picture rails became Schlesinger’s bed, shelves for daily necessities and stools for sitting. The spartan existence (cold showers!) was one that Schlesinger thrived in. His space became a marriage of a few personal objects — a flea market blanket on the bed, fresh produce from his farmers’ market gig, a kettle for the shared ritual of tea or coffee, his tools, camera, books (including a copy of Gaston Bachelard’s “Poetics of Space”) and a record player and LPs for music — with the architecture.
These same objects migrated with him to the Headlands Center for the Arts, where until today he was in residence. In his massive studio, a stark contrast to the Highlight room shown here, Schlesinger reacted not by filling the space, nor building into it, but by connecting with the land around it. He talked about the “subtle, gentle act to show the unseen wonder of things,” while listening to John Fahey on a portable record player. The ritual of shared tea or coffee that he engaged in at the Highlight house was replaced by daily walks on the trails surrounding the residency. Collections of small brightly colored pebbles and leaves, bits of wood and other objects — the yield of those walks — skirted the edge of the studio, all sitting in the order of their discovery. His building tools, a constant companion, sat on top of makeshift tables of wood and old radiators. The space was largely devoid of color except for the shock of electric blue — from tape to drawing pencils to large spools of thread being used in his largest piece for his final show. It’s interesting that as an artist so invested in the idea of home he’s inhabited so many places that are impermanent. “There are so many ways to understand the idea of home,” he said. “I think it really comes down to a sense of place, a sense of where you are. Though there is a liminal quality to the spaces I inhabit now, there may be great potential in that. Within all of this, there is a feeling that I am where I belong.”