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The decision to leave his hometown of Canton, Mississippi at 16 to pursue a career as a conceptual artist in Venice, California came with many bumps for self-taught artist Jackson-Collins. He tells his story in stark terms because he believes that his honesty helps his viewer to better understand who he is and why he paints the way he does.
His early days in California were spent painting on the streets and selling his small paintings to the eclectic crowd that thronged the famed Venice Beach boardwalk. His was often a precarious existence. The experiences of those ‘starving artist’ years gave him a lot to reflect on and to yearn for: things as basic as a warm bed, a place to call his own, stable relationships, family - themes that have found their way into his work. But being an artist was never a question of choice for this artist. It was the only path for him, and the displacement and struggles were all part of the landscape. Raw, edgy, and bounding with ideas and emotions, Jackson-Collins’ work defies clear categorization. He has drawn from styles that include figurative, abstract expressionism and surrealism, but has evolved a style all his own, characterized by a highly charged brushstroke, daring distortions of the human form, unorthodox use of color - often monochrome hues -, and a system of personal symbolism. His work, seemingly chaotic at times, reflects, on a deeper level, a search for balance, calm, truth and honesty.
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