Jessie Boone

Jessie Boone

Jessica (Jessie) Boone grew up in Cincinnati, OH and has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Savannah College of Art & Design.  She has worked for Artworks, the non-profit organization that supports public works and currently works in Cincinnati for Barefoot, a digital marketing agency, and interacts with the world as an animal charmer and freelance artist.

Jessie finds herself watching people a lot. She could sit for hours and watch the people around her because “people are most real when they do not realize that they are being watched.”  Her paintings document breaches of personal space, which create momentary intimacy between strangers. The common denominator is that each person is in the midst of an introverted action in a public space.  Her gaze never penetrates into who they are beyond what she can discern from afar; she watches them objectively. Their introversion makes it fascinating to step unseen into their situation. Anonymity becomes opportunity.

Jessie's focus is not with the people themselves, but with the action of watching. The only thing their relationship needs is for them not to notice she exists. Her works interpret personal interactions between human beings and pinpoints introspective and personal activities people have in common; specific behavior that belongs to the individual, but at the same time is shared with the population at large. Her newest work shows seemingly banal exercises interpreted as sensual and serene, while also placing these objects on a pedestal.