Henry Jackson

Drawing from the Abstract Expressionists, Henry Jackson combines figurative and abstract elements in bold, colorful paintings composed of oil paint, dry pigments, wax, graphite, and sometimes collage. Formed from a range of brushstrokes and a diverse color palette, Jackson’s figures—which usually appear alone in the center of his canvases—are barely discernible, bordering abstraction. Jackson engages in a process of applying and eliminating layers of paint, and altering pigmented cold wax with solvents, creating compositions that typically possess a remarkable physicality and emotional restlessness. “Similar to that of thread to fabric, drawing to painting, the spiritual and physical become the catalyst of my exploration and study into the human condition,” he has said. Jackson also paints black-and-white compositions in acrylic and graphite. His work has been compared to that of Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff.