Bordering on abstract expressionism, Jo Messer’s paintings offer stimulating and amusing comments about sexual identity and the human body. The artist’s canvases are populated by naked female figures engaged in enigmatic activities—understood as either highly erotic poses, or the artist’s whimsical remarks on the classic genre of the nude. Messer’s unique style explores painting’s full potential while playing with the historical and conceptual underpinnings of the medium.

Jo Messer was born in Los Angeles, California in 1991. The artist received a BFA from the Cooper Union in New York City in 2014 and an MFA from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 2017.

Solo exhibitions of Messer’s work include: Knees to Navel at 56 HENRY in New York City (2021); and Oops at Kenny Schacter in New York City (2020).

Group exhibitions that have shown Messer’s work have taken place at: Fredericks & Freiser in New York City; Rove Projects in New York City; Western Exhibitions in Chicago, Illinois; and New Release in New York City; among others.

Messer’s work is held in the Rubell Family collection in Miami, FL.

Messer was awarded a residency at the Yale Norfolk Summer Art School in Norfolk, Connecticut in 2013.