Vincent Jackson
b. 1961, San Francisco ∙ CE artist since 1984
Photo by Peter Prato
Vincent Jackson (b. 1961, San Francisco) is known for his large-scale oil pastel portraits. One of the first artists at Creativity Explored, Jackson remains among the organization’s most prolific and longest-practicing studio artists forty years later.
What is essential for Jackson is the process of making art. In his large-scale figurative oil pastels, thick, defining lines break the human form into geometric shapes. These forms are filled with a heavy impasto of layered colors, arranged with Jackson’s masterful sense of harmony. The resulting masklike portraits implicate the viewer in their gaze, looking back as we view them. Jackson remarks, "my faces are my way of telling a story rather than writing."
Jackson’s artwork serves as the cover of the Art is Art book, and in 2024, the Brooklyn Museum commissioned a piece by Jackson for their new cafe. His work has been selected for multiple product partnerships, including a series of artisanal chocolates from Recchiuti Confections, a series of limited-edition products with CB2, and a curated collection of colorful masks, scarves, totes, clutches, and glass trays with VIDA. In his four decades at CE, Jackson has been featured in five solo exhibitions and over sixty group shows across the United States, France, and Japan. His work can be found in the permanent collection of the Oakland Museum of California.
Select Exhibitions & Projects
2025
“Looks Like a Home to Me: Inside the Progressive Art Studio,” LA Public Library, LA, CA
“I Wish I Had A Window,” &Beyond Gallery, Oakland, CA
San Francisco Art Fair, San Francisco, CA
“Jewel Box,” San Francisco Art Fair, San Francisco, CA
2024
“Going Places,” Gensler, San Francisco, CA
“Hues,” Senator’s Office, San Francisco, CA
“Art is Art,” Rare Device, San Francisco, CA
2023
“Connections,” Art Center of the Blue Grass, Danville, KY
2022
“Mr. Amazing,” Sage Studio, August, TX
2021
“Make Way For Mr. Jackson,” Summertime Gallery, New York, NY
“Mode Brut,” Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA
“Blackiful,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2020
“Fantastic Stranger”, Arts of Life, Chicago, IL
“Of Here From There | De Aquí Desde Allá”, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA
2019
“Creativity Explored Group Show,” Cutting Ball Theatre, San Francisco, CA
“5 & 2 Others,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2018
“Fabulate!” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“48 Pillars,” Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017
“Black White,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2016
“Fonds Duvel Moortgat,” MADmusée, Liège, Belgium
“Tabula Rasa,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2014
“They are full of holy...,” Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Shoerageous,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2013
“Vincent Jackson: Bold and Beautiful,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2012
“Out of Order,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2011
“SMALL,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“The Masters,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2010
“Spectrum,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“Paper!Awesome!,” Baer Ridgeway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
2008
“Finders Keepers,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2007
“Transmissions,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“Shadowshine, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2006
“Nature Rules,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“Sacred Places,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2005
“Wear to Go,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2004
“Spirits and Saints,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
“Heads n' Tails,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2003
“Dialogue Project,” Funabashi Cure Gallery, Funabashi, Japan