A&O Interview With Jesse Reno

Choosing Between Shapes

I’ve been mesmerized by Jesse Reno‘s paintings for years. To call them mere paintings is almost myopic, relegating them to a definition that can easily be obtained through a cursory inspection. It’s best to take your time with Reno’s work, to examine the layers, the complex pattern work, scrawled lines, and his preternatural subjects who adorn the surface like holy beings, deities, and sacred creatures from another realm. To deny Reno’s oeuvre this small justice is to miss the visual stories the artist seeks to tell; ancient glyphs from the dreamscape of Reno’s waking life, unearthed into the light of day.

For this A&O interview, I asked the prolific Portland-based artist to share some of his inspiration and recent work with me. Reno was also kind enough to include a written piece with info he normally shares with his students for the “Tips & Techniques” section of A&O. You don’t want to miss this!

Werewolf

Argot & Ochre: What influences or inspires your work and your creativity?

Jesse Reno: The main influences for my work are the works of ancient and primitive people. I love this work and push for the same purity and inner search
with my own work, tapping into the hidden yet blatant magic that exists all around us; the mixture of random and ambitious moments that bring us to our
potential. I’m inspired mainly by the act of painting and finding stories to guide my life in the process. The biggest rush is finishing a new piece. After that its starting a new one.

A&O: Can you define your work in terms of themes, genres, and/or emotional content? What do you like to paint?

JR: Mainly I paint stories that tell themselves to me. I can best relate it to dreams but I’m awake. I don’t dream much but i daydream all day. The themes deal with personal myths, archetypes, and symbols that offer stories and feelings. Most of all, I look for a feeling in a finished work. This is ultimately what defines a piece as finished to me – when it resonates with alignment, purpose, and feeling. Most of the pieces deal with a struggle to evolve as a being, growth, connection, and understanding purpose.

Bunnypuss

A&O: What has your path as an artist entailed?

JR: I started drawing when I could hold a pencil. All I wanted to do was draw,
turn into a fire engine with loud sirens, and dig for dinosaur bones. By the time I was around 15 yrs old, my parents convinced me that was unrealistic and I had to learn a trade. So I gave up the idea and just saved my work in a notebook. I started playing guitar right around this time, so I decided I’d become a guitar player – a lot more realistic then an artist.

I spent all my time and energy on learning instruments, recording gear, and then playing and recording. Until I was about 28 around 1999, I was playing with my band and we put on this crazy event with video, live improv music, and an art show. In the art show was the work of Chris Giordani. This was the sickest art I’d seen. I actually didn’t care much for “art” i just liked ancient artifacts and didn’t really think much about paintings, sculptures or the world of”art”. But Chris’s work could not be denied serious energy and attention.

So at the end of the show I tried to buy one of his pieces and he just gave it to me. I decided to show him my drawings and he flipped. He was like, “You need to paint, come to my house and we can just freak out and paint. I was so stoked it was like meeting literally the best artist you’d ever seen and having him say you should paint. How do you deny that? So I started painting with Chris and it was just off the hook. Within a year I painted 100 pieces, my house was full of paintings and all my friends were like, “When are you gonna show these?” So in 2000 I had my first show at a tattoo shop and it went really well.

So I started booking shows anywhere I could, like once a month. Within 3 years I quit my job as a shipping receiver and started making art full time. I was crazy. I would just put my work everywhere I could, posting on free portfolio sites, cold calling, sending prints, hitting up any place that would hang art or I thought should hang art. I built a website and started posting everything. This was key for me. It was a forum and place where I could show my works as soon as I made it without waiting, restraining, or answering to anyone. I’m super into immediacy. I hate waiting.

So anyway, I could be in control and do things at my own pace. Now I have a site with over 2000 paintings on it dating back to 2004. At this point I’ve done a ton of shows, live paintings, murals, travel, design for skate decks, snowboard jackets, t-shirts, wallets, and I’ve just released my fifth book. I pretty much put all my energy and money into my career, traveling for shows, teaching classes about my ideas and techniques as a painter, and trying to connect with people. Its like my 9-year-old dream that I’d forgotten and never could have imagined.

A&O: Any shows in the works?

Reno painting live in France

JR: Always. I actually just got back from 2 weeks in France where I had two exhibits,  a live paint demo, and some commission work. Things went really well there. I was in a juried show of  25 international, self-taught artists where i was presented with an award for being the most expressive artist. I’m already in the process of making plans for a return trip next year. Then I was home for less then a week, and I was off to Vancouver BC for a show and live painting.

Finally I get to chill for about a month. I have show and mural install coming up here in Portland at Local35 in August. I’ll have some work in San Diego in September for a group show at Planet Root.

Local35 Mural

The next really exciting thing after that is November in Mexico for some teaching and to create some work for a future gallery show in Puerto Vallarta.

A&O: What sort of other projects or endeavors are you currently involved
with?

JR: Working on an apparel set jacket, t-shirt and gloves for Grenade Gloves. Just finished up a t-shirt design for Portland’s oldest and biggest skate shop, Cal Skate – another dream from when I was like, 13 and used to mail-order my decks from Cal Skate when I was a kid in New Jersey.

Land Shark Deck

Just finished up my fourth custom-painted guitar, a project I’ve been working on with Birdman Guitars here in Portland.

SG guitar

I’ve got a really big show in my head and filling my studio waiting for the right opportunity and space to unleash it in.

Here’s one piece I’m hording for it:

One Day You Will Catch On But By Then I Will Be Gone

A&O: Your work has a very free, spontaneous, and emotive feel to it. Is that true of your process or is it more planned out than that?

JR: Super free. I change direction a lot and paint over and over. I scrawl things that come to mind. It’s really loose ’til I see just the right combination of colors, emotion, and purpose. Then I get really nit-picky, editing it up ’til the colors and lines are just perfect. But this can mean painting over a piece 5 or even 10 times before even getting to the finishing stage. It’s super free if you just let go. That’s the hardest part, even for me depending on the stage of the piece. I often have to get rid of my favorite parts to really make a piece finished and correct. In the end, I access the piece and its changes, asking myself why and what – this is where the titles come from. For me, all the work has specific, personal meaning in process, evolution, and completion. I learn a lot about myself. It’s like dream analysis, only I’m awake.

A process video from a live paint in Mexico City:

Truth Teller in the Land of Myths

A&O: Viewing artwork online can be a bit deceiving. Can you describe the mediums, textures and layers in your work? Is it painterly? Flat? Mixed media?

JR: I’d call it painterly. It’s super layered mixed media. I use acrylic, oil
pastel, colored pencils and collage from oragami paper scraps, hand made
papers, and recycled old paintings ive broken or ripped up. So it’s a mix. The work definitely looks worked when you see it in person, meaning you can see globs of paint that make no sense to the finished piece, or dug in pencil lines that are painted over but the depressions are still present. I tend to press a bit hard when I draw.

Here’s a good pic for texture:

He Grew Legs Right

A&O: And finally, here are some tips & techniques that Jesse Reno was so kind to share. I hope you enjoy!

JR: This entire process is based on working in reverse and out of time with our thoughts. This method forces us to learn to see, meaning we see what is rather than the idea of it. It’s easy to get caught up with the ideas in ones head. We aim to learn that a plan is just a start point at best and it’s always ok to change our direction. A rigid plan can confuse us with let downs and expectations. Just because things aren’t going as planned doesn’t mean they are going poorly. I’ve found in my past that sometimes, even when things are working out better, it’s easy to still be confused and frustrated based on the idea that things are not going as planned. Best to not look at the plan but rather what’s happening so we don’t miss anything.

Forgotten Species

I like changing my mind. Especially when I don’t like my first choice. If something is not working out, it can often be far more productive to drop it and start over than force broken pieces together.

Once we realize this, our ability to learn becomes less painful and limitless. When mistakes are just encounters to be corrected, learned from, or left as the perfect accident we learn not to fight or fear our actions.  I like to use approaches that shouldn’t work. This takes away our desire to expect immediate results. We expect less and get more. This brings us back to learning to see rather than expecting to see. This is crucial to opening us to new experiences and in turn rewards us with
unexpected results in the process. This will in time breakdown our ideas and fears of the unknown allowing us to encounter new things with greater ease and less fear.

Mending Skeletons

The truer we become with our desires, the more we attain them. Finding what you want in yourself can be the hardest part. After this, it’s basically not giving up and pushing forward. If we move in this manner, we eventually get where we want to go. Frustration distracts us and pushes us back. Fun and excitement move us forward. This is why I look for techniques and approaches that are stress free, physically and mentally fun. Constantly learning to try something new, look, see, wait, and then decide with a fresh eye what you really see. It’s amazing what a fresh
look can show you.

Within this process it is the questions you ask yourself that are most meaningful. Let these guide your creativity and help you find what you’re looking for. Learning to know your steps when you see them. Changing your mind and direction when needed. Make choices patiently, deciding what exactly is not working and what is, then move forward by eliminating what doesn’t work with a new choice. Continue in this manner and your work will inevitably move forward and work itself out organically and naturally. Over time you will develop a style and technique that is
meaningful and very much your own.

Never Doubt Your Ability to See the Future

By searching out meaningful directions and imagery you will maintain excitement and reward in your creations. It is meaning that creates the feeling of accomplishment. We accomplish things that mean little to us every day and we don’t recognize or care to remember them. It is the interactions with meaningful outcomes we remember. When we include this level of meaning and importance in our work it becomes very powerful. We gain confidence in our work, as well as ourselves, and even learn to see ourselves more clearly.