As if he were the wicked offspring, Produced by the wild minds of Donald Kaufman, Basquiat, and Hemingway. Like Mother Nature’s bastard step child coughing from a drag off a menthol cigarette............
Born January 22nd 1976, in Haifa Israel, artist Jesse Kellman is the adopted son of prominent American economist Dr. Mitchell Kellman and mother Eleanora Kellman. During the early years of his life the family moved often and Jesse found himself absorbing aspects of all the different cities both nationally and internationally in which he lived. For the most part he grew up in the New York Metropolitan area. He always felt on the outside of the mainstream and grew fond of being the antianti. A rebel at a young age he created his own world and his own ways on how to do things, sometimes working for him and sometimes working against.
Jesse has worn many hats in life. He left home at an early age to serve in a foreign military, spent time working in a tire factory, worked on the streets of New York City with the Emergency Medical Services as a paramedic, captained a professional sport fishing boat, and owned a top faux finishing and decorative painting company in Southern California. He has travelled extensively throughout the world and has a robust willingness to absorb what is around him. He passes through life with a bang bang shoot ‘em up mentality and is always looking for ways to challenge himself. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the death of his mother, his adoption, family issues, and the chaotic world around us have all played a part in his work. Revisiting and re-enacting certain scenarios, his pieces are products of therapeutic realizations and creative exploration.
His art is typically bold, large-scale works in neo-expressionism. Rough around the edges, opinionated, un-even and occasionally sloppy. He is attempting to infuse a real life element into his pieces, always using real experiences and memories from his past to guide the image in to a powerful existence. The material selection always varies. Using oils and acrylics, papers, charcoals, and whatever is handy, the canvas is transformed into a mixed media experience.
Starting his path in San Diego California, Jesse quickly built a strong clientele base and set his sites on achieving national recognition. He recieved representation from galleries in San Diego, Seattle, and Chicago Illinois and is in private collections ranging from New York, Dallas and Los Angeles to name a few. Jese continues to exhibit around the country and continues to expand his over all viewership by attracting wide audiences with a one of a kind style.
Currently living in New York the artist embarked on a graduate program in Environmental Science to better address a number of environmental issues that concern him. His love of nature and the natural world around him, particularly anything "That swims in fast moving water", has egnigted a need in him to do more for the natural resources that he loves.
An individual always bending the rules, some times living in his own bubble and never ceasing to say what he thinks. Jesse will continue to lead a life that is full of interest and exploration and will always render it to canvas. His art will continue to adapt and evolve always covering a broad array of themes and topics.
