Jesse Vasquez is a Sacramento based artist and photographer. He began his photography career while attending Sacramento City College, shooting local bands and exchanging prints for a spot on the guest list at the Cattle Club and other venues. While taking a beginning photo class, he got an assignment to do "painting with light" and his work took a turn down a strange exploration of the human body in its fluid form. The human form as elemental expression is still the central focus of his work.
He lived in Philadelphia from 1993-2002 and worked widely in the performance community. Learning from the dance and physical theater worlds which were exploding there during that time, he worked slowly but steadily in whatever darkroom happened to be available. Most of the series “Creatures of Light” was produced then, though some essential pieces in this collection would be produced upon his return to Sacramento in 2002.
Shortly after this return to Sacramento, he turned his eye towards “making a living” and began doing editorial photography work for some local publications. He also began making digital captures which opened up vast possibilities for new exploration and expression
The collection “Stone” was a reaction to the fact that galleries and other organizations often put out calls for “Fine Art and Photography”. He set out to produce work that referenced classical painting and sculpture and was printed in a manner which blurred the line between photographic print and fine art production. While working on these images, he also began to do portraits of friends which referenced the religious iconography of the renaissance. The amount of studio and editing time required to produce these bodies of works often led to long walks in nature to “air out”. The habit of holding a camera meant that he often took his camera with him on these walks, shooting whatever jumped up to grab his attention. This eventually became the unending series “no place better than here”.
With “lovemad compositions” he is examining the the ways in which people place each other in different new contexts, especially if the other is one’s own self.
He is currently employed as a Lab Technician in the Art Department at UC Davis.