Various Small Fires is proud to present Roots by Jessie Homer French. The exhibition of new paintings is the regional narrative painter’s fourth solo exhibition with VSF and first at the gallery’s Texas location.
Mostly executed during the pandemic, a series of six new paintings paying homage to the United States Postal Service (USPS) compose the core of this exhibition. French lovingly portrays post offices as quiet protagonists, painting regional post offices she has known well at one point or another in her life. These include the artist’s current post office (located half an hour away from her rural Mountain Center, California home and studio), the one from her childhood in Upstate New York, and the Winter Harbor, Maine post office used by her long-time best friend, June.
For decades, French has eschewed the use of computers and cell phones for correspondence, preferring hand-written letters delivered by USPS mail. These postal sites remain understandably significant to the artist and were even more meaningful during the former Trump administration. Traditionally a non-partisan institution, the USPS suddenly became a political flashpoint as conservative lawmakers ridiculed its business model and refused to provide financial support in the wake of pandemic-induced struggles. Furthermore, baseless accusations of absentee voter fraud ran rampant, putting the USPS at the center of a contentious election cycle. French, known for portraying the delicate ecosystems of the natural world surrounding her, shifts gears in this work to preserve sites of social importance that have come to be threatened.
The additional paintings in Roots include subject matter that French covets. Mojave Burning, 2021, depicts the 2020 Dome Fire of the Mojave National Preserve and demonstrates French’s unique ability to capture environmental perils poetically.
