Through my practice, I chronicle the lived and imagined experiences of and between human beings. I believe painting can be a tool for considering the emotional, psychological complexity of an individual’s story and identity. Creating imagery that connects one’s realm to that of another, I alter perception and aim to invoke empathy towards my subjects by depicting their reality across a visceral lens. Focusing on portraiture and figuration, my subjects include family, friends, and cultural figures placed in constructed settings.

 Jesse Zuo is a New York-based Chinese oil painter and illustrator. Through figurative images, she expresses her take on femininity, physicality, emotions, and precious moments in life. She practices detail-focused traditional realism and explores contemporary expression in chromatic colors.

 My paintings’ shifting readability generates a fluidity between absence and presence, reflecting the flickering state of being created from living with a chronic disease. Working with motifs of miniatures and toys, I am interested in scale, motion, and repetition. What does it mean to make the miniature giant, to make the giant miniature, or to allow the miniature to remain?

 I use painting as a way to reconstruct my internal experiences and explore unrecognizable emotions through personal allegories. My works reflect my own desires as a drifter in life, as well as societal pressures and responsibilities demanded of a painter. While I start painting with daily sketches and writings, I deviate from the initial plan by incorporating unexpected elements throughout my painting process. This approach allows me to create dramatic and absurd worlds within my paintings.