Jesse Foley Brink is a stay-at-home dad who creates artworks in his garage. Raised in rural Pennsylvania by two artists, he naturally spent much of his life attempting to do anything but create art. Their tiny, period-correct 18th-century fieldstone house was stuffed with early American folk art; meanwhile, his second-favorite picture book was the catalog to MOMA’s 1968 exhibit “The Machine.” That juxtaposition continues to inform his work to this day.
After acquiring various degrees more out of curiosity than specific intention, Jesse spent a couple decades working in architecture, publishing, visual effects and academia. Always creativity-adjacent, his role was nevertheless usually primarily logistical. It wasn’t until he entered into the solitude of child rearing that he began to seriously explore his own creativity – in the form of customizing vintage Japanese cars.
Over the course of this work, Jesse learned all manner of fabrication techniques. In 2017, for his forty-fifth birthday, he bought himself a $100 kiln off Craigslist to melt aluminum for sandcast engine parts. Four years later – un-coincidentally also on his birthday – he did his first raku firing of small ceramic houses. Soon after, it occurred to him to mount one of these houses on a piece of driftwood. There began the flood of imaginary landscapes that will likely continue for the rest of his life.
For me, all my pieces are portraits of solitude – reflecting in varying degrees the strength of individuality and the corrosive effects of isolation. But, ideally, each work is open enough to connect with the viewer emotionally on their own terms and reflect their own point of view. Aesthetically, I strive to create work that feels slightly out of time and place, as though each is an artifact from a design past that never quite happened. Although the results often have a vaguely Scandinavian mid-century modern vibe, early American folk art is my primary inspiration.
CvJESSE FOLEY BRINK
Born 1972 in Princeton, New Jersey
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
EDUCATION
1995 Master’s in Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
1994 Bachelor’s in History, Haverford College
WORKS ON DISPLAY
2025 Re-Envisioning Resilience, Barnsdall Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA
2024 to Present Rotating selection of works exhibited for sale at The Mart Collective, in Venice, CA
2018 to Present Permanent installation of kinetic artwork “Join the Fun” at The Westside Neighborhood School, in Marina Del Rey, CA
CONTACT
3666 Moore Street, Los Angeles, CA 90066
310-367-0215
jfbrink@gmail.com
mud-branch-frame.com
CA
CountryUSA
