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Jessie Karlsberger

Graduate Student, MFA Program

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A black and white photograph of Jessie Karlsberger, a man with a beard wearing a large scarf

Biography

Curriculum Vitae
  • BFA, Printmaking, Wright State University

Jessie Karlsberger is an interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of painting, drawing, comics, printmaking, and book arts. Graduating from Wright State University in 2015 with a focus in printmaking, Karlsberger went on to serve as the instructor of bookbinding at Rhode Island School of Design from 2020-2022 and is the co-creator of Backbone Bindery in Pawtucket Rhode Island.

His current work explores intersections of reality and fiction, and the production of narrative through sequential or repeat imagery. Through a combination of abstraction and gestural realism, an emphasis is placed on the traces of the artist’s presence and emphasizes the interpretive role of the viewer. The work explores the simultaneity of accumulation and repetition, and approaches image-production as a kind of visual language in which formal elements such as scale, mark-making, and line combine to either clarify or obscure intent – thus focusing on the context-specific relationship between images when viewed in sequence.

Work

An up-close frontal view of a rectangular pink and white, wall-hanging sculpture in the shape of a word ballon. The pink background is sanded, and some of the surface underneath is visible and light brown. The word bubble is white, made of plaster, and is raised from the pink surface. The balloon's tail curves and points downward, and to the right hand corner. Jessie Karlsberger: One of Two Graduate Jessie Karlsberger: One of Two
A close up cropped photograph of a four foot by eight foot piece of MDF. The painting is primarily black, red, white, and beige. Comprised mostly of gestural figures surrounded by drawn black lines, like comic panels. A large pair of tired and bloodshot cartoon eyes sits at the bottom right. Jessie Karlsberger: Comic Page One Graduate Jessie Karlsberger: Comic Page One
A close up cropped photograph of a four foot by eight foot piece of MDF. The painting is primarily black, red, white, and beige. Comprised mostly of gestural figures surrounded by drawn black lines, like comic panels. A large pair of tired and bloodshot cartoon eyes sits at the top left. Jessie Karlsberger: Comic Page Two Graduate Jessie Karlsberger: Comic Page Two