Green Keys, by Jesse Hickman

Jesse Hickman is an American artist born in Chicago, now living in northern Michigan. Trained in photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago in the late 1970s, he developed a largely self-taught practice, nurtured by a particular attention to humble materials and essential gestures. Influenced by Art Brut, he creates paintings on found objects such as sunflower seed bags, burlap, or worn papers. These supports become the ground for an exploration of line, rhythm, and form. Charcoal, tar, paint, or carbon paper enrich his refined compositions with their materiality, where each element seems reduced to its most accurate expression. Through a practice based on restraint and economy of means, Jesse Hickman reveals the poetic potential of everyday materials and transforms the familiar into sensitive abstractions.