Jessica Niello-White

Jessica Niello-White is a painter deeply rooted in the traditions and lineage of her craft. A figurative painter, Niello-White has described each of her works as “a single star in a broad shimmering constellation of art that exists on the planet.” This cosmic metaphor reflects her fascination with artistic heritage, from the Renaissance artists who first stretched canvas after witnessing decaying frescoes on Venetian walls, to the atmospheric glow of Michaël Borremans’ works, to the still and uncanny spaces of Gertrude Abercrombie. Niello-White acknowledges her debt to artists who came before her, while remaining committed to painting as a living, evolving practice. She sees each of her works as a point of connection within that tradition, attentive to how light, mood, lineage and subject converge on the canvas. Her process is intuitive and grounded in observation, guided less by analysis than by a desire to respond directly to what she feels and sees. The result of this process is curated, enchanting compositions are most often imagined, a bricolage of things she has seen, admired and experienced. Despite their mélange of references, her works always manage to center both her psychological state and beauty.

Her works often edge on or slip fully into the surreal, moving between sincerity and irony, intimacy and distance, light and shadow. In portraits, Niello-White renders her subjects’ emotion and adornment foremost; in her interiors, she paints spaces imbued with quietude, toying with visual metaphors and art history references. Each work consistently carries an undertone of psychological inquiry, while embracing beauty and whimsey.

Niello-White’s paintings also reflect a fascination with the absurd, the humorous, and the mysterious. She is drawn to moments of surprise, delight, and even taboo, and she brings this sensibility into both her studio and her daily life. She embraces uncertainty, likening her role to the archetype of the Fool in tarot, a figure who accepts the not-knowing as essential to discovery. Influenced by the writings of poet David Whyte, she recognizes life’s cycles of clarity and mystery, and she meets them through painting. For her, the act of painting is not only a way of making images but also a lifelong practice of returning, again and again, to the unknown.

Jessica Niello-White is an artist and art educator working in Berkeley, CA. Niello-White received her BFA from University of San Francisco with an emphasis in printmaking in 2006. She went on to receive her MFA from Pratt Institute in 2019. Niello-White has been subject to solo exhibitions at Erica Tanov, Berkeley, CA; The Jones Institute, San Francisco, CA; Steuben Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Do Your Thing, Marfa, TX; Gallery 2301, Oakland, CA; Book/Shop, Oakland; little shop of flowers, Tokyo, Japan; and Ogaard Gallery, Oakland. Niello-White has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at Cult Aimee Friberg, San Francisco, CA; the Jones Institute, San Francisco, CA; Matter, New York, NY; Head Hi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Pratt Steuben Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Curator’s Cube, Tokyo, Japan; and A.I.R Vallauris, Vallauris, France. She has been awarded numerous residencies including Poco a Poco, Oaxaca, Mexico; Taos Clay Studio, Taos, NM; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont; and A.I.R Vallauris, Vallauris, France.