JESSICA
RAE
ECKER
Jessica grew up in the American Southwest, exposed to desert landscapes and modern architecture. Her father, a civil engineer, took her on tours of jails and prisons in her youth. This exposure to vast landscapes and confronting dwellings continues to shape her artistic career. She is intrigued by the contradiction of being in a place yet not being the place, that there is always a separation between structure and freedom.
Graduating from Pratt Institute in 2012 with her MFA in painting and drawing, Jessica claims residency in Arizona; however, she is currently traveling the world teaching English and art.
Graduating from Pratt Institute in 2012 with her MFA in painting and drawing, Jessica claims residency in Arizona; however, she is currently traveling the world teaching English and art.
What is a dwelling but an empty vessel to protect from the surrounding elements, while correspondingly providing an anchor which holds its inhabitants within natural environments. This necessary irony is an essential part of human existence. Yet, when one envisions the relationship with habitat and habitation, is it rooted in reality or an illusion of symbiosis with an underlying combative friction within the dualism, wherein both elements are pulling away through an act of avoidance?
I believe as humans what we desire most is a genuine interaction and complete understanding from what we choose to interact with. As we progress through an interpreted reality, we become more persistent in questioning our relationships - whether human-to-human, human-to-architecture, human-to-landscape, human-to-technology, or human-to-institution. As we contemplate the reality of our experience and confinement versus the illusion of the experience, we realize that both are shaped by emotion, memory, and desire. Our interpretation of space and relationships changes as our interactions and beliefs progress with time.
