Ariel "Aryel" René Jackson considers land and landscape as sites of internal representation, referring to meteorological, archeological, and historical aesthetics with the pursuit of foregrounding navigation, care, and the right to embed oneself into public archives with an interest in how we might become represented in future ideas of historical archives.
Jackson’s methodology begins with visual and oral research via communities they are embedded in along with opportunities to gather material via institutional archival research. Following said research, Jackson gathers, manipulates, and experiments with soil, pigments, fabric, and printed material on panel surfaces. Research and sculptural methods of painting inform Jackson’s approach to video and film.
Throughout Jackson’s video and film practice, themes of transformation and cultural inheritance coincide with photographic artistic methods as they relate to disenfranchised communities’ ability to document themselves and lived experiences. Jackson’s process of bringing together various disciplines comes out of an anti-disciplinary one where a new, yet to be defined, discipline forges out of a post-colonial method of self-determination and self-awareness as a descendant of the African-diaspora and afro-creole/caribbean praxis.
Jackson is an alum of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2019), Royal College of Art Exchange Program (2018), and The Cooper Union (2013). Their work has been shown nationally and internationally at various galleries and institutions such as the Digital Arts Resource Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada; the Dallas Contemporary (2021); Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle (2021); Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans (2018); Depaul Art Museum, Chicago (2018); Rhode Island School of Design Museum (2017); and Studio Museum in Harlem (2016).
b. 1991
Raised in New Orleans, LA
Works in Austin, TX
Lives in Kyle, TX
EDUCATION
2019
MFA \ Transmedia and Print \ University of Texas at Austin \ Austin, TX
2019
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture \ Skowhegan, ME
2018
Royal College of Art Exchange Program \ London, UK
2013
BFA \ Fine Arts \ Cooper Union \ New York, NY
RESIDENCIES \ FELLOWSHIPS
2022
International Artist-in-Residence \ Artpace: San Antonio \ San Antonio, TX
2021
Tito's Vodka Prize Exhibition \ Big Medium Gallery \ Austin, TX
Jacob Lawrence Legacy Artist \ Jacob Lawrence Gallery \ Seattle, WA
2019
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture \ Skowhegan, ME
Momentary AIR \ Crystal Bridges Museum \ Bentonville, AR
IdeasCity New Orleans \ New Museum \ New Orleans, LA
2018
Royal College Exchange Award \ UT Austin Department of Art & Art History \ London, UK
2017
The Shandaken Project \ Storm King \ Vales Gate, NY
Thread Residency \ Alders Foundation \ Sinthian, Senegal
2016
Van Lier Visual Artist Fellowship \ Wave Hill \ Bronx, NY
Keyholder Residency \ Lower East Side Printshop \ NY, NY
2015
BHQFU Residency \ BHQFU \ NY, NY
2013
Artist In the Marketplace \ The Bronx Museum \ Bronx, NY
SELECT PRESS/PUBLICATION
2022
Do Black and Hispanic People Feel Welcome in Austin? by Michael Agresta \ Texas Monthly
2021
Ariel René Jackson and Michael J. Love imagine a Black futurist family archive by Kaila Schedeen \ Sightlines
The Texas Biennial Lands in San Antonio, with a program exploring race, immigration and activism by Bryan Rindfuss \ San Antonio Current
Justice Delayed: 'Make America What America Must Become' at the CAC New Orleans by Kristina Kay Robinson \ Art in America's ARTnews \ Review
Ariel René Jackson on the 'Detective Work' of telling truthful stories by Lise Ragbir \ Hyperallergic \ Interview
2020
Less than half: Women of Texas by Hall W Rockefeller \ Interview
A View From the Easel During Times of Quarantine by Alisa Wouk Almino \ Hyperallergic \ Article
A Q&A with Ariel René Jackson \ The Momentary \ Interview
2019
'First Look: Ariel René Jackson' by Sean J Carney \ Art in America \ Feb 1 Issue
2018
Original Language Catalog by Natasha Marie Llorens feat. 'Cogitations on Surviving Language' by Ladi'Sasha Jones \ CUE Art Foundation \ Sept
Out of Easy Reach Catalog by Allison M. Glenn \ The University of Chicago Press \ Sept
'Monuments for a New Era' \ New York Times \ Art Opinion \ Aug
2016
'Abstracting the City:"Crescent Elsewhere" at the Black Cinema House' by Allison M. Glenn \ Pelican Bomb \ Art Review \ June 15
'Ariel Jackson - "Focus" at the Studio Museum in Harlem' by Alan Lupiani \ Art Review \ June 15
2015
'Spectral Projections:Color, Race & Abstraction in the Moving Image' by Marie Christina Villasenor \ Abstract Video Art by Gabrielle Jennings \ University of California Press \ Sept
2014
'American Beauty' by Holland Cotter \ New York Times \ Art Review \ Jan 23
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2023
HOST Series: TBA The Contemporary Austin, Jones Center \ Solo Exhibition
(RHY)PISTEMOLOGY (OR, TO KNOW THROUGH THE RHYTHM) Ground Floor Theatre, Fusebox Festival \ April 12-13, 2023 \ Austin, TX\ Screening
2022
An Evening with Ariel René Jackson Museum of Modern Art \ May 9, 2022 \ New York, NY \ Screening
Remember This House: A global story \ Artpace \ San Antonio, TX \ Solo Exhibition
Tending Land \ Digital Arts Resource Centre (Formerly SAW Video) \ Ottawa, ON, Canada \ Group Exhibition
A Welcoming Place \ Women & Their Work \ Austin, TX \ Solo Exhibition
2021
A way back home \ IDEA Lab, UT Austin's Black Studies \ Austin, TX \ Solo Exhibition
We are the [Hackers], Baby, [Hackers] are we \ Big Medium \ Austin, TX
Screen House \ Baltimore Museum of Art \ Baltimore, MA
A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon \ Texas Biennial \ Ruby City \ Austin, TX
Reimagining Monuments \ University of South Florida \ Tampa, FL
Descendance \ Jacob Lawrence Gallery \ Seattle, WA\ Solo Exhibition
Doubt & Imagination \ Dallas Contemporary \ Dallas, TX\ Solo Exhibition
2020
Make America What America Must Become \ Contemporary Art Center \ New Orleans, LA
Dear Future... \ University of Northern Colorado \ Greeley, CO
Another Country \ Terrault Gallery \ Baltimore, MD
Carver's Message in Blue \ George Washington Carver Museum \ Austin, TX \ Performance
2019
Video Series curated by Sara O'Keefe \ New Museum \ NY, NY
L O O M S curated by Partial Shade \ Sweet Pass Sculpture Park \ Dallas, TX
In Practice:Other Objects curated by Gee Wesley \ SculptureCenter \ NY, NY
A Recounting:Data, Disinformation & Blackness curated by Elisa Durrette \ Guerrero Gallery \ San Francisco, CA
2018
Cage Match Project VIII:Color Composition (Installation)\ Museum of Human Achievement \ Austin, TX
All I See Is Blue (performance)with Michael J. Love \ CUE Art Foundation \ NY, NY
Original Language curated by Natasha Marie Llorens \ CUE Art Foundation \ NY, NY
Constructing the Break curated by Allison Glenn \ Contemporary Art Center \ New Orleans, LA
Out of Easy Reach curated by Allison Glenn \ Depaul Art Museum \ Chicago, IL
2017
Ariel Jackson:The Origin of the Blues curated by Amber Lopez \ RISD Museum \ Providence, RI
2016
Let It Be Known (screening) curated by Erin Christovale \ REDCAT \ Los Angeles, CA
Crescent Elsewhere (screening) curated by Erin Christovale \ Rebuild Foundation's Black Cinema House \ Chicago, IL
Synthetic Zero: Creative Technology (screening) curated by Mitsu Hadeishi \ Bronx Art Space \ Bronx, NY
(Im)permanent Landscapes (screening) curated by Sarah G. Sharp \ Terrault Contemporary Gallery \ Baltimore, MD
The Blues Data Crop:The Gains and Loss of Black Farmers in America (solo) \ Wave Hill \ Bronx, NY
Focus:Ariel Jackson curated by Amanda Hunt \ Studio Museum in Harlem \ Harlem, NY
2015
The Black Fantastic\ Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture \ Harlem, NY
Fall Open House (performance)\ The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture \ Harlem, NY
Bronx Biennial\ The Bronx Museum \ Bronx, NY
Afrofuturismtns Conference (performance)\ The New School \ NY, NY
2013
American Beauty curated by William Villalongo \ Susan Inglett Gallery \ NY, NY
Culture, History + Video curated by Shani Peters \ Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit \ Detroit, MI