An interview with Jesse Reno

(all images courtesy of Jesse Reno)



wlfmrs: You are a well-credited, self-taught artist; do you think this has been
an advantage or disadvantage within the arts community?

Jesse: For me it has been a great advantage, as I've just done things my own way
without preconceived ideas about what I should or shouldn't do. Its been
great both artistically and career wise without the idea of what to do,
you come up with your own ideas and make moves that others just wouldn't and for
me that's really worked out on all fronts.


wlfmrs: Can you tell me more about your technique? (Building from concept to
the actual process)

Jesse: My technique is pretty backwards, as I don't start with a concept, and the
process is to make a mess until it starts to inspire an idea. From there,
I change ideas and directions as many times as my mind and eye think it's
necessary. Eventually things get to a point where an image and composition
begin telling me a story or feeling. I write ideas, scrawls, and symbols
as I go to expand on the story feeling and concepts in the work,
continuing to build up and edit back layers of the painting.

I leave pieces of the beginning to merge and bleed through the last compositions,
giving the piece a sense of history within itself as well as an
abstraction of the passing thoughts that help create it.

It seems natural and organic to work this way, it's how thoughts and ideas seem to develop
for me. In the end things just start to feel really right at which point
I tighten things up and balance them out till I think everything looks and
feels right. At the end, I contemplate how I got from a mess to the finish
and refine the story which becomes the title of the work.

     

wlfmrs: You have quite a few skate decks with your work on them, was this a sponsorship endeavor or did you use old decks? Do you skate?


Jesse: All of the above, I skate almost everyday, I paint on old decks, and I've worked with pigwood for a ragdoll deck. As well, I have produced two deck graphics for Merde a local Portland skate company.

                

(What You Were and What You Have Become)

wlfmrs: Is there an animal/human/flora character combination of yours that you like best?

Jesse: This is always in transition. Basically, whatever I painted last is usually my favorite and most meaningful as that is what’s most recently on my mind.. at the moment its strange dinosaurs and castle men.



wlfmrs: Your work seems to have a spiritual tone to it, is there a message that you are portraying in your pieces? Is it important to you that people buying your work understand your message?

Jesse: For me there are stories and messages in all my pieces both my personal story and one open for interpretation. It's always great when people understand the work but appreciation of any level is great. I think
sometimes people understand things without even realizing it. I like to
leave things open this way people can apply it all to themselves I find it
makes far more of an impact that way.


wlfmrs: Are there artists along the way that have inspired/influenced your
work?

Jesse: For me its been mostly friends - Chris Giordani, who got me started - Doug
Boehm an illustrator from Pennsylvania, who I used to paint with He taught
me a lot about composition - Eric Wixon, really got me hooked on
abstraction. But over all, I'm influenced and inspired most by ancient art
of native people, this is what I seek out in museums and galleries. Other
than that, I'm inspired by whatever catches my eye; a tag, a skate graphic,
random images in magazines, photos, moments, etc.. etc.. etc..


wlfmrs: How much of your work is influenced by your surroundings (geographically)?

Jesse: For a while it had a really heavy influence to me. The coast of the
pacific northwest is really intense for me, I cant help but think of
Indians when I'm there. It's easier to paint then to talk about- so yes.


wlfmrs: You seem to do a lot of traveling with your art; do you have a favorite
adventure that you’ve been on?

Jesse: I just got back from France and it was for sure the best trip I've taken.
I got to meet my biggest collector, who's been supporting my work since
2004. Fred Lux, he's got 60 pieces in his collection. We've had a a ton of
email interaction over the years and I always thought he was a great guy,
but he is over the top super fun! To see all the pieces in his house was a
trip. I actually stayed at his house for about a week. I used his house
as a studio to do a 4x4ft commission while visiting.

The rest of the trip was pretty off the hook as well. I was given the award of most
expressive artist at the - Grand Baz'Art à Bézu, Festival International,
Art Singulier Contemporain. It was juried by Yvon Taillandier, who painted
with Picasso, Miro, and Chigall, so it was a pretty serious honor.

After the festival I headed across France for an exhibition in a castle in a
town called Liverdun. The castle is acting as a temporary exhibition space
while they prepare to build a contemporary museum. I did a live paint
there that was bought by the city for the future museum. So the trip was
really good always around.

wlfmrs: Have you noticed a degree of change with your work over the years?

Jesse: It's always changing, I get really bored doing the same thing. It's been a
steady evolution as my ideas and approach are pretty constant but I'm always
finding a new way to interpret the story, new creatures, colors, and
always adding to my techniques and layers.


wlfmrs: Can you tell me about the writing and music you do? What came first; painting, music, writing?

Jesse: I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil, I started doing music when I was 13 yrs old. I was recording on 4tracks and playing in bands by 16 yrs
old. I started writing a lot around 16 as well, journals, poetry, raps, rants abstract ideas, then I started painting around 25 years old, so now
its a mix of everything.

As for music I've worked on all kinds of projects, recording, producing playing live. At the moment, I just got back into recording working on pretty abstract stuff. I also play live and record with powercircus; an experimental abstract noise project that consist
of myself on a sampler, guitar through looper and fx, violin through fx, my lady Lana Guerra on bent circuit synths, broken toys, loops, and vocals, and Mahon Rose on mandolin and vocals. I play out solo with guitar as well big looped weirdness, so music is all over the place. You can check quite a bit out at my site under the music tab... far easier than me trying
to describe or explain it. I should be putting out a cd in the very near future, a mix of projects. Whenever I get it together, it will be available
on the site.

As for writing, all the writing I do now comes from the
backs of paintings basically the stories and ideas associated with the paintings and then I string them together at random.







(We All Have Wings)

wlfmrs: Between your books, skate decks, vinyl toys, stickers etc… have you had
a favorite project that you’ve worked on?

Jesse: I love doing skate decks, it's been the dream since I was like 10 yrs old. I
always wanted to get sponsored just so I could design my own deck, I was
never near a good enough skater though.. So that's pretty tight.. other
than that, I really like the art books. It's just really nice to page
through my paintings and be able to share them in any easy quick format.

   

wlfmrs: You have a shit ton of tattoos, how many do you have now? Did you
design all of them? Who else’s work do you have on you? Any plans for your next
ink?

Jesse: 34 I think.. I did all the designs except two.. one is a painting my
friend Chris Giordani created and the other, a bird on my right hand, my
lady drew up. It came from an old Mexican carving. All the rest are my
symbols, designs or paintings that are all like lessons and reminders for
me. As for next i have a few things in mind but it's hard to say what will
actually happen. I've been thinking about a choker necklace of small lines
like a ruler around my neck for quite sometime now, but only time will
tell.



wlfmrs: How’s the art scene in Portland? Any changes you’d like to see in the
art community? Anything you recognize as extraordinary about it?

Jesse: The scene is really nice in Portland, tons of art, tons of artist and
very little sense of competition. I really like that. It's nice to live in
a place with that kind of energy and kinship, I find it a really
extraordinary place all around.



wlfmrs: Any upcoming shows you’d like to mention?

Jesse: Ayden Gallery in Vancouver, BC, June 19th. I'll be showing a ton of new work
and live painting for the opening. The show runs for a month.  After that I
come home to pdx and have a show at the Addidas original store downtown on
July 2nd.


wlfmrs: Do you have any guidance that you’d like to offer to artists trying
to find their way?


Jesse: I'd say its ambition over direction. You've got to want it more than
anything and work that hard at it, but its all possible. Mainly you've got
to really want it and stretch as far as you can.