Oliver Lee Jackson became a member of the multidisciplinary Black Artists Group in his hometown of St. Louis in 1968, dedicated to aesthetic innovation and the exploration of African art (history). To this day, Jackson maintains a demarcation from the Western-influenced understanding of art and meaning in his works, which also include sculpture and mixed media. Instead, he works with symbolic and interpretive systems of indigenous African art.
Since 1982, Jackson has lived in Oakland, California, a working-class city near San Francisco known for its diverse multicultural population. He always encourages viewers of his works to have emotional responses, to engage with the feelings that are evoked. Creating this close connection between the work and the viewer, he says, is above any discussion of whether the works are figurative, abstract or something in between.
Through February 20, 2022, the Saint Louis Art Museum will host an exhibition on Oliver Lee Jackson that traces his experimental aesthetic development over five decades.
