Jessie Madera

21 year old, New York based artist Jessie Madera is making small yet successful strides in the underground art scene. After struggling with chronic Lyme Disease since 2008, she has used the emotional and physical challenges of the disease as an outlet to discover an unknowing, self taught talent. Acrylic and Sharpie Marker are her medium of choice to create colorful, simple, yet dramatic art on canvas, skateboards, wood, and walls with a lowbrow street art influence. Although creating art originally started as just a hobby, branching out became necessary in order to grow not only as an artist but mentally and emotionally as well. This has lead to recent accomplishments such as selling a number of individual and commissioned works, album artwork for Florida based band Written in Blood, album artwork for California based band Clear Conscience and designed for Arizona based company Arkaik Clothing. The main goal is to continuously make an impact and inspire all the people who support Jessie in her battling of Lyme Disease and her artistry. Future plans include working with more bands and companies as well as expanding into the graphic community. Creating art was never about making money; it was more or less about getting the thoughts in my head out. I think when you create, not because you desire to but because the need to is so prevalent for your own sanity, people gravitate toward it more than you could ever imagine. I continuously deconstruct my own human psyche with each piece that was created along my journey of chronic disease. The art itself and the meaning behind it are almost quite juxtaposed in concepts. My work is bright, in your face, and designs are quite simple, basic marker outlines of warped bodies and minds. The simplicity of the produced pieces are straightforward black and white ideas of misfortune and the hope that may or may not come along with that. With a lowbrow, street art style, I’m frequently asked, what other artists are you similar to or inspired by. The question is almost downplaying any artist’s creativity and self awareness in a sense. I don’t look at other work for much inspiration because it’s not about that artists work. It’s me, who I am, where I’ve been, what I’ve done, and the things I haven’t been able to do. What once started as Sharpie Marker on cardboard has evolved into something greater and more in depth than I had ever planned for it to be and still continues to develop. It’s disease, hate, fear, immobility, loss, and hope created with beautiful color.