Artist Statement/Bio: 

Native to New Mexico and currently based in Louisville, Kentucky, Jessica Chao earned a Bachelors in studio arts at UNM with a focus on lithography, sculpture, and painting. In previous years, Jessica contributed to the Albuquerque art community as a co-founding member of the Graft art collective made possible by the Fulcrum Foundation. For three years, she collaborated with Graft by curating art shows in a DIY space with programs to support other artists through formal presentation and art education. 

 

Jessica presented work at the Harwood Art Center, 516 Art, the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation Gallery where she received “Curator’s Choice” presented by Regina Held, a field mural designed with the Bosque biologist team at Valle De Oro National Wildlife Refuge, and a large-scale art installation at the the National Hispanic Cultural Center Museum as an homage to her Chinese and Korean heritage. In other regions, Jessica was selected by guest juror Greg "Craola" Simkins for the 2017 Surreal Salon at the Baton Rouge Contemporary, presented lithographs at the Chicago Art Department, and featured at Louisville Visual Arts and Carbon Copy Gallery in Kentucky.   

 

Jessica's work evokes psychological states of being which can be implied through carefully orchestrated, narrative moments. The moments are glimpses of past memories of feelings and intended to "peculiarize" the familiar to draw attention to undercurrents of hidden meaning. These narratives are meant to drive the implications of human relationships, flora and fauna, and larger problems that introduce topics of environmental issues.