He Said, Overripe
He Said, Overripe extends the same aesthetic process that Jackson first explored in his painting of a year earlier, Monkeys (2018). In this instance the reference material is more specific, taking the story of the fox and the grapes from Aesop’s fables (a narrative of unfulfilled gratification) as a source of inspiration for Jackson’s artistic and philosophical explorations. Stylistically Jackson’s paintings reveal the influence of Caymanian artist Bendel Hydes — the forefather of contemporary art in the Cayman Islands — as well as American mid-century Abstract Expressionism.
About the Artist
John Reno Jackson
b. 1995
John Reno Jackson is an emerging contemporary Caymanian painter. He attended foundation courses in painting and drawing at the London Art Academy in 2015. Since then, he has continued his painterly explorations through a series of abstract works made in Grand Cayman. Jackson has exhibited at Paulo – PADA Studios in Barreiro, Portugal, where he attended an artist’s residency in 2020, and at Artisan Space in London, UK. His work is in the permanent collection of NGCI, where it was featured in the exhibitions Island of Women: Life at Home During Our Maritime Years (2020), Reimagined Futures – 2nd Cayman Islands Biennial (2021) and The People’s Collection – A 25-Year Cultural Legacy (2022).
