Ricardo Jackson: Artist of the Week

This week we are exploring the art practice of Ricardo Jackson who creates landscape paintings and collage.

To see more of Ricardo Jackson's artwork you can follow his Instagram page @ricardo88artist.

Can you briefly describe your art practice?

I draw, paint and collage. My artwork is created from life experiences and trying to capture

moments as I see them.

Is there a piece of art that you are most proud of creating? Why?

There a few pieces I’m proud of. I produced two landscape paintings of Filey beach. I like these

studies because they both have quite bright colour schemes and have a loose quality to them. I am also quite proud of my most recent series of artwork, which is based around ‘trainers’ or ‘sneakers’.

What drove you to pursuing a practice in painting and collage?

I was always taught and encouraged to work across many mediums since the beginning of my

practice, however I still like to experiment and I like the idea of pushing a concept as far as it can go. No matter the medium.

Ricardo Jackson, Forces, collage, 2020

Is there an element of art you like or dislike working with? Why?

I don’t think there are any parts of art or the art industry I dislike at the moment. I like that despite the current climate the scene is still busy and thriving.

Your paintings explore natural landscapes, what inspires you to depict this subject matter?

I am inspired to paint landscapes by visiting different places, of which are different to my local

surroundings. This may be for compositional value, colours or simply to document an experience.

What projects have you recently completed?

I have just completed my first set of pieces for the ‘trainers/sneakers’ series, but will continue to

develop this series.

Ricardo Jackson, Grey Rick, Filey, painting, 2020

Why do you make this type of art?

It relates to me, my life, experiences, the places I visit. It is all an expression of self.

What kind of artists influence you the most?

I have many influences ranging from Elizabeth Peyton, Cezanne, Egon Schiele, Peter Doig to name a few, but I am also very inspired by the artists I see creating and posting work on social media.

Many of your artworks make use of collage. Why do you choose this process to work with?

I like to work in collage because as a process it feels like the opposite of drawing and painting. The whole process of finding and collecting imagery, before having to arrange and re-arrange it into a new composition or new image I find contrary to the process of drawing and painting which for me is a process of ‘letting loose’ on a subject.

Ricardo Jackson, Men's Health, collage, 2020

Artists everywhere have had to adapt to the sudden impact of COVID-19. Has your practice

changed in any way during this time?

Yes, it gave me more time to focus on my practice and experiment with mediums a bit more.

Ultimately it gave me the time to put more time into my practice.

What type of ideas are you hoping to present through your artwork?

I hope my artwork presents the idea of expression and self-expression through a range of mediums.

If you are interested in being featured as an Artist of the Week you can fill out a short application form here.