Jesse Amado American, b. 1951
B. San Antonio, TX, 1951
Jesse Amado received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 1995, he was selected by Robert Storr as the first recipient of the newly created international residency program Artpace San Antonio, along with Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Annette Messager. Amado received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to attend Artist-in-Residence, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA, and he was awarded the International Artist-in-Residence Program of Gwangju, South Korea,
Amado's choice of materials, including paint, wood, felt, and light, expands the dimensional constraints of painting. His pursuit of color as a material culminates in a visual language that embraces sensuality and beauty. Amado's work is a testament to the quality of change and its limitless and liberating potential for an artist. By utilizing forms, images, materials, fashions, and media of human industries, he can produce profound commentaries on the ambiguities of modern and contemporary culture and the investments made by society. His work is grounded in his Mexican American heritage, South Texas aesthetics and conceptual practices that are anchored in social realities, history, and politics. Amado is recognized as one of the pioneering conceptual Latino artists.
“When I settle into the practice of art, past, and current, the one conceit that persistently unfolds is the desire to investigate the arc of the transmutation. This reflects my keen interest in the zeitgeist and the inherent dynamic qualities it possesses that address the trends and thoughts of periods of time. My work endorses the quality of change and how limitless and liberating it can be for an artist. It resists the formulaic and instead embraces the free association and process that reflects the Freudian play of the creative act. Utilizing forms, images, materials, fashions, and media of human industries; I’m able to produce commentaries on the ambiguities of modern and contemporary culture and the investments that are ultimately made by society.”
His work can be found in various public collections throughout Texas and the United States, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA.; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Dallas Museum of Art, TX; The Blanton Museum, Austin, TX; San Antonio Museum of Art, TX; Ruby City, San Antonio, TX; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX and El Museo Del Barrio, New York, NY.
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Jesse AmadoTake-out December 24, 2024100% virgin wool felt, acrylic on wood panels, styrofoam32.5 x 52 in
82.5 x 132.1 cm -
Jesse AmadoI Am Not Your Mexican, A Rapist, 2023100% virgin wool felt, acrylic on chicharrón, silver chain30.5 x 30.5 x 4 in
77.5 x 77.5 x 10.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoTake Out Brisquet Burger, 2023Virgin wool felt and acrylic on styrofoam24 x 24 x 4 in
61 x 61 x 10.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoTake-out April 23 , 2023100% virgin wool felt, acrylic on styrofoam12 x 32 in
30.5 x 81.3 cm -
Jesse AmadoI Am Not Your Mexican: Rhapsody in Blue, Gazing North Beyond the Broken Fence, 2021Le Corbusier acrylic, Chicharrón, felt, and Plexiglas on canvas39.8 x 39.8 x 3 in
101.1 x 101.1 x 7.62 cm -
Jesse AmadoComing At You, 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on canvas20 in
50.8 cm -
Jesse AmadoDecember 2020, 2020Le Corbusier acrylic and burnt flairs on canvas30 x 24.5 in
76.2 x 62.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoLives Matter (noose), 2020Synthetic rope, and Plexiglas40 x 18 x 27 in
101.6 x 45.7 x 68.6 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled (E), 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on panel18 x 18 in
45.7 x 45.7 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled (K), 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on panel18 x 18 in
45.7 x 45.7 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled (O), 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on panel18 x 18 in
45.7 x 45.7 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled (W), 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on panel18 x 18 in
45.7 x 45.7 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled Blue Sponge Sculpture, 2020Le Corbusier acrylic on plaster, sponges14 x 8 x 8 in
35.5 x 20 x 20 cm -
Jesse AmadoWidespread Rumors of Dystopia #2, 2020Ink, graphite on paper15 x 22 in
38.1 x 55.9 cm -
Jesse AmadoWidespread Rumors of Dystopia #3, 2020Ink, graphite on paper15 x 22 in
38.1 x 55.9 cm -
Jesse AmadoWidespread Rumors of Dystopia #4, 2020Ink, graphite on paper22 x 30 in
55.9 x 76.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoWidespread Rumors of Dystopia #5, 2020Ink, graphite on paper22 x 30 in
55.9 x 76.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoBEAUTIFULLWALL, 2019Le Corbusier acrylic on molded paper7 x 28 x 10 in
17.7 x 71.1 x 25.4 cm -
Jesse AmadoPhilosophical Painter, 2019Le Corbusier acrylic, glass beads, and industrial tape on wood20 x 18.5 x 2.2 in
50.8 x 46.9 x 5.5 cm -
Jesse AmadoWhat a Difference a Day Makes (24 Little Hours), 2019Le Corbusier acrylic, 48 staples on panel14 x 23.5 x 1.5 in
35.5 x 59.6 x 3.8 cm -
Jesse AmadoBLOWUP, 2018Le Corbusier acrylic paint on molded paper, acrylic plexiglass10.3 x 9 x 2 in
26 x 22.9 x 5.1 cm -
Jesse AmadoContent, Concept, Concept, Content, 2018Le Corbusier acrylic paint on molded paper on wood panel12 x 8 x 4.7 in
30.4 x 20.3 x 11.9 cm -
Jesse AmadoMini Gibberish, 2018Le Corbusier acrylic, thorns, letters on panel6 x 18 x 2.7 in
15.2 x 45.7 x 6.8 cm -
Jesse AmadoEllipses #3, 2017Virgin wool felt and tailor's pins15 x 15 x 1.5 in
38.1 x 38.1 x 3.8 cm -
Jesse AmadoSensorium #3, 2017Le Corbusier acrylic, Chicharrón, rubber band, seed pods on canvas16 x 16 x 1 in
40.6 x 40.6 x 2.5 cm -
Jesse AmadoCon Dos Manos #14, 2008Ink and Le Corbusier acrylic on paper14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm -
Jesse AmadoManos Ocupadas, 2003, 2020Ink on paper, Le Corbusier acrylic on paper, and wood14 x 10 x 1.5 in
35.6 x 25.4 x 3.8 cm -
Jesse AmadoMachine, 2003Ink, graphite on paper40 x 51 in
101.6 x 129.5 cm -
Jesse AmadoCharlotte and Emily Bronte (The Complete Novels), 2001Marble, gilded books9 x 4.7 x 6 in (each work)
22.9 x 12.1 x 15.2 cm -
Jesse AmadoWhy We Fill Space No. 6, 1999Ink and graphite on paper13 x 10 in
33 x 25.4 cm -
Jesse AmadoUntitled, 1998Watercolor on paper9 x 12 in
22.9 x 30.5 cm -
Jesse AmadoToss, Pick, Catch (ones*ies...) No. 2, 1997Concrete, ink, charcoal, and graphite on paper26 x 20 in
66 x 50.8 cm
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Ruiz-Healy Art 2024 Museum Acquisitions
Ruiz-Healy Art, June 21, 2024 -
A Preview of Museum Exhibitions Opening in Central Texas this Fall
Jessica Fuentes, Glasstire, September 12, 2023 -
I Am Not Your Mexican Expands Post-Minimalist Boundaries
Emma Ahmad, Southwest Contemporary, August 25, 2023 -
Out With the Muralists, in With the Minimalists in “I Am Not Your Mexican”
Barbara Purcell, Glasstire, July 19, 2023
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"I Am Not Your Mexican" at Ruiz-Healy Art is Spatially Fluid
Ashley Allen, Glasstire, July 18, 2023 -
Patricia Ruiz-Healy champions Latinx and South Texas artists in both San Antonio and Manhattan
Bryan Rindfuss, San Antonio Current, November 4, 2022 -
San Antonio’s arts community reflects on the milestones of another challenging year
Bryan Rindfuss, San Antonio Current, December 29, 2021 -
Ruiz-Healy Art Celebrates its Quinceañera
Kathleen Petty, San Antonio Magazine, November 19, 2021
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Top Five: April 8, 2021
Glasstire, April 8, 2021 -
Jesse Amado on His Life as a Firefighter, a Veteran and one of San Antonio’s Most Acclaimed Artists
Rebecca Fontenot Cord, San Antonio Magazine, November 4, 2020 -
A New Museum Seeks to Make Texas a Centre of Contemporary Art
Chris Wiley, Frieze, November 5, 2019 -
Jesse Amado: Quiet Observer of Changing Times
David S. Rubin, Rivard Report, March 12, 2016
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I Am Not Your Mexican
June 7 - September 16, 2023 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is pleased to present I Am Not Your Mexican, two concurrent group exhibitions, at our San Antonio and New York City galleries. The exhibitions are curated by writer Eduardo Egea and feature artists Jesse Amado, Mathias Goeritz, Hersúa, Willy Kautz - Jippies Asquerosos, Fernando Polidura, and Teresa Serrano. The exhibitions will include historical works by Goeritz, Hersúa, and Serrano.Read more -
I Am Not Your Mexican
May 24 - September 8, 2023 New York CityRuiz-Healy Art is pleased to present I Am Not Your Mexican, two concurrent group exhibitions, at our San Antonio and New York City galleries. The exhibitions are curated by writer Eduardo Egea and feature artists Jesse Amado, Mathias Goeritz, Hersúa, Willy Kautz - Jippies Asquerosos, Fernando Polidura, and Teresa Serrano. The exhibitions will include historical works by Goeritz, Hersúa, and Serrano.Read more -
Alchemy: Works on Paper
February 22 - April 1, 2023 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Alchemy: Works on Paper. The exhibition will present works by Jesse Amado, Richard "Ricky" Armendariz, Cecilia Biagini, Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Margaret Craig, Andres Ferrandis, Pedro Friedeberg, Cisco Jiménez, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Leigh Anne Lester, César A. Martínez, Kanako Namura, Lina Puerta, and Ethel Shipton. Ruiz-Healy Art is proud to be one of only three dealers in the state of Texas that holds membership to the International Fine Print Dealers Association, an organization that maintains the highest standards for works on paper.Read more -
McNay Print Fair
April 29 - May 1, 2022 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is thrilled to participate in the 26th edition of the McNay Print Fair, the only major print fair in the Southwestern United States. Ruiz-Healy Art is delighted to feature prints by Marta Sánchez, Richard Armendariz, Juan de Dios Mora, Ethel Shipton, and Celia Álvarez Muñoz, among others.Read more
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Ruiz-Healy Art: Quinceañera
November 18, 2021 - January 29, 2022 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is pleased to announce Ruiz-Healy Art: Quinceañera, an exhibition commemorating the fifteen-year anniversary of Ruiz-Healy Art in San Antonio, Texas. The exhibition features work by artists that have...Read more -
Dallas Art Fair
Dallas November 12 - 14, 2021Ruiz-Healy Art is thrilled to present the work of Jesse Amado, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, and Carlos Rosales-Silva, to the 2021 edition of the Dallas Art Fair. Amado, Datchuk, and Rosales-Silva’s...Read more -
Plurality of Isolations
February 24 - May 22, 2021 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is delighted to present "Plurality of Isolations" at our San Antonio gallery featuring works by RF Alvarez, Jesse Amado, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Jenelle Esparza, Barbara Miñarro, Cecilia Paredes, Ethel Shipton, and Carlos Rosales-Silva. The exhibition opens on Wednesday, February 17.Read more -
Jesse Amado & Alejandro Diaz: Double Pleasure
January 29 - March 21, 2020 San AntonioJesse Amado & Alejandro Diaz: Double Pleasure highlights the artists' work in painting and a shared interest in post-conceptual art practices that are grounded in their Mexican American heritage and South Texas aesthetics.Read more
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Jesse Amado & Alejandro Diaz: Double Pleasure
January 23 - August 29, 2020 New York CityJesse Amado & Alejandro Diaz: Double Pleasure highlights the artists' work in painting and a shared interest in post-conceptual art practices that are grounded in their Mexican American heritage and South Texas aesthetics.Read more -
Latinx Art: Transcending Borders
Houston April 3 - May 11, 2019Collaborating with Octavia Art Gallery (Houston, Texas), Latinx Art: Transcending Borders celebrates Latinx visual arts in the United States, predominantly Texas. Featuring artists: Jesse Amado, Richard Armendariz, Margarita Cabrera, Michael Menchaca, Cecilia Paredes, Chuck Ramirez, and Ethel ShiptonRead more -
Blue is Not a Color
July 11 - September 1, 2018 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art presents Blue is Not a Color featuring works by Jesse Amado, Richard Armendariz, Cecilia Biagini, Cecilia Paredes, Cade Bradshaw, Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Deliasofia Zacarias, on view from July 11, 2018 through September 1, 2018.Read more -
Jesse Amado: BECOMING
March 16 - April 28, 2017 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art presents Jesse Amado's solo exhibition BECOMING. Features politically themed “block letters”, textile “colorings”, his signature virgin wool felt “tablets”, prints by Hare & Hound Press, and a garment “closet.”Read more
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McNay Print Fair
March 4 - 5, 2017 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art participates in the McNay's 21st Annual Print Fair. Featured artists include: César A. Martínez, Ethel Shipton, Nate Cassie, Graciela Iturbide, Chuck Ramirez, Pedro Friedeberg, Pedro Diego Alvarado, Jesse Amado, and Richard Armendariz, among others.Read more -
On the Curve
January 25 - February 25, 2017 San AntonioOn the Curve is a group exhibition exploring curvilinear works by Constance Lowe, Jesse Amado, Andrés Ferrandis, Nicolás Leiva, Nate Cassie, Laura Anderson Barbata, Ricky Armendariz and Ethel Shipton.Read more -
Dreamers and Realists
June 23 - September 3, 2016 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Dreamers and Realists, a group exhibition featuring Jesse Amado, Andrés Ferrandis, Cisco Jímenez, Nicole Franchy, and guest artists Kaela Puente and Alejandro Augustine Padilla.Read more -
IFPDA INK Miami Art Fair
Miami December 2 - 6, 2015Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to participate for the second consecutive year in INK Miami Art Fair, sponsored by the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) as part of Art Basel Miami Beach Art Week.Read more
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Why is the Sky Blue?
November 18, 2015 - February 13, 2016 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art presents Why is the Sky Blue? A group exhibition with Jesse Amado, Laura Anderson Barbata, Cecilia Biagini, Nate Cassie, Aníbal Delgado, Hersúa, Cisco Jimenez, Magali Lara, Chuck Ramirez, Guillermo Santamarina, Hills Snyder, and Pilar Villela. Including works that date back to the 1970's, this exhibition uses abstract works to focus on issues over looked in the modern tradition of abstract art.Read more -
Jesse Amado: 30 Day Rx
April 30 - June 6, 2015 San AntonioThis exhibition features work by artist Jesse Amado. Amado’s recent first-hand experience with illness and prescription drugs has brought him to consider the universal presence of pharmaceuticals, how they occupy our everyday lives in ways that range from simple self-indulgence to confronting pain and death. Here he focuses on medication, its beauty, power, and consequence. In true Amado form, the work enlightens and mesmerizes. Take a dose.Read more -
More than Words: Text-Based Artworks
March 5 - April 25, 2015 San AntonioMore than Words: Text Based Artworks features works by the artists: Andrés Ferrandis, Ethel Shipton, Ricky Armendariz, Jesse Amado, Chuck Ramirez, Julie Speed, Nate Cassie, Alejandro Diaz, Marifer Barrero. Text based artwork is a recurring hallmart of modern art. The artists in More than Words: Text Based Artworks create works that run the gamut from subversive social comment to rapturous meditation. Each will give you an unexpected occasion to pause.Read more -
Aesthetic Encounters
December 10, 2014 - January 10, 2015 San AntonioRuiz-Healy Art presents a group exhibition with works by Pedro Diego Alvarado-Rivera, Jesse Amado, Nate Cassie, Andrés Ferrandis, Nicolás Leiva, Leigh Anne Lester, Rodolfo Morales, and Chuck Ramirez.Read more
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I Am Not Your Mexican I Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio
Essay by Eduardo Egea Ruiz-Healy Art, 2023 Read more -
I Am Not Your Mexican I Ruiz-Healy Art, New York
Essay by Eduardo Egea Ruiz-Healy Art, 2023 Read more -
Jesse Amado & Alejandro Diaz: Double Pleasure I Ruiz-Healy Art
Essay by Carla Stellweg 2020Hardback, 66 pagesRead more
Publisher: Ruiz-Healy Art
ISBN: 9781714309726
Dimensions: 10 x 8" -
VOZ : Selections from the UTSA Collection, 2018
Essay by Arturo Infante Almeida 2018Hardcopy, 106 pagesRead more
Publisher: Centro de Artes
ISBN: 978-0-9915043-3-6 -
Jesse Amado: BECOMING I Ruiz-Healy Art
Essay by Rainey Knudson 2017Hardcover, 44 pagesRead more
Publisher: Ruiz-Healy Art
ISBN: 9781366252142
Dimensions: 8x10 in -
Why is the Sky Blue? I Ruiz-Healy Art
Jesse Amado, Chuck Ramirez, Cecilia Biagini, Nate Cassie, Cisco Jiménez, Hills Snyder Essay by Octavio Avendaño Trujillo, 2015Paperback, 42 pagesRead more
Publisher: Ruiz-Healy Art
ISBN: 1364513900
Dimensions: 8 x 10 in -
Jesse Amado: 30 Day Rx I Ruiz-Healy Art
Essay by Patty Ortiz 2015Hardcover, 36 pagesRead more
Publisher: Ruiz-Healy Art
ISBN: 1367468329
Dimensions: 8 x 10 in -
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art / Smithsonian American Art Museum
Chuck Ramirez, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Mel Casas, Jesse Amado, Frank Romero Essay by E. Carmen Ramos, and introduction by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, 2014Hard Cover, 368 pagesRead more
Publisher: Smithsonian American Art Museum
ISBN: 978-0-937311-94-1
Dimensions: 10 x 12" -
Hare & Hound Press + Artpace: The Art of Collaboration
Jesse Amado, Richard 'Ricky' Armendariz, Chuck Ramirez, Nate Cassie. Cesar A Martinez Amada Cruz, 2014Paperback, 120 pagesRead more
Publisher: Hare & Hound Press
ISBN: 1888302070
Dimensions: 9 x 11 x 0.5" -
Dreaming Red, Creating Artpace | Jesse Amado, César A. Martínez
Essays by Linda Pace, Jan Jarboe Russell, Eleanor Heartney, and Kathryn Kanjo 2014 Read more -
Desire | The Blanton Museum of Art
Editor: Annette Dimeo Carlozzi 2010 Read more -
Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists
Jesse Amado, Chuck Ramirez, Nate Cassie, Constance Lowe, Ethel Shipton, and others Editors: Riley Robinson and Nan Cuba, 2008Hardcover, 224 pagesRead more
Publisher: Trinity University Press
ISBN: 1595340394
Dimensions: 8.75 x 1 x 10.25 in -
Artworks: The Progressive Collection
Forward by Toni Morrison | Essays by Dan Cameron, Peter B. Lewis, Toby Devan Lewis, Mark Schwartz 2007 Read more -
Beauty Spot: Jesse Amado | McNay Art Museum
Essay by MaLin Wilson-Powell 2003 Read more -
Texas 150: Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | César A. Martínez, Jesse Amado
Author: Alison De Lima Greene 2000Paperback, 279 pagesRead more
Publisher: Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Dimensions: 9.75 x 1 x 11.5 inches -
Jesse Amado: Renascence
Essay by Dana Friis-Hansen Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston , 1996Paperback, 12 pagesRead more
Publisher: Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
Dimensions: 8 x 5.5" -
American Images: The SBC Collection of Twentieth-Century American Art
Featuring: Jesse Amado, César A. Martínez and Frank Romero Authors: Betsy Fahlman, Matthew Baigell, Susan C. Larsen, et al. , 1996Hardcover, 320 pages pagesRead more
Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc
Dimensions: 9.75 x 1.5 x 11.75 inches