Jesse Black: New Voice in Los Angeles Art Inspired by Americana and Tattoo Flash

September 1, 2025 - January 1, 2027

Opening: Sunday 5th of October 2025 2PM - 4PM

Jesse Black: Los Angeles Contemporary Artist Merging Americana and Tattoo Art

Grit, Layers, and the Spirit of the West

There’s an energy to Jesse Black’s paintings that you can feel before you even know his story—an undercurrent of risk, resilience, and restless movement. New to the Artspace Warehouse roster since February, the Los Angeles–based artist has quickly become one of the gallery’s most intriguing voices. His textured works merge the grit of the desert with the energy of California’s coast, blending Americana, tattoo culture, and vintage ephemera into a visual language that feels at once timeless and contemporary. Weathered surfaces and distressed layers give his pieces the look of something lived-in and hard-won, like relics salvaged from an untold story.

 

From Shipwreck to Studio

Black’s own story begins in motion. At just sixteen, he left home for a sailing trip with his father—a voyage that took an unexpected turn when they were shipwrecked in Mexico. Stranded for a year, he immersed himself in a life that read like a modern outlaw ballad: riding horses with cowboys, gambling, and drinking tequila in the dusty heat. “That experience set me on a lifelong path of adventure,” he says. “It shaped my perspective and fueled my need to tell stories.”

Storytelling, for Jesse, has taken many forms—music, writing, and above all, painting. A self-taught artist, he approaches the canvas the way he approaches life: without hesitation. His process is fast, instinctive, and unapologetically raw. Heavy layers of paint are worked over, scraped back, and rebuilt, often multiple times. Finished works are never truly final; he pushes materials to their limits, leaning into “happy accidents” that reveal unexpected depth. “I paint with my whole heart, and I paint fast,” he explains.

 

Finding His Voice

His years in the tattoo industry were pivotal in shaping his visual vocabulary, introducing him to bold motifs and precise line work. Ultimately, though, tattooing wasn’t his path. “I struggled with the idea of inflicting pain on others,” he admits. But the influence of that world remains in the imagery that threads through his canvases: vintage tattoo flash, WWII-inspired motifs, and nostalgic Americana, all reimagined with a fine art sensibility.

Art has always been more than an individual pursuit for Jesse—it’s a family legacy. His late father was a painter, and today he and his wife, Maci, carry that tradition forward in their own home, recently welcoming their son, Jones, into the mix. The creative spirit runs deep in the Black household, grounded in shared dedication and vision.

 

A Life in Motion

In between creating in his studio, Jesse has lived a life marked by reinvention. He’s a licensed hundred-ton boat captain, the founder of Newport Beach’s only group art show, a creator of two 100-page zines, and the artist behind a sprawling three-story staircase mural at Black N Gold Recording Studios in Los Angeles. He’s sold art on Venice Boulevard as a teenager, exhibited at the Pancakes & Booze Art Show in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and staged annual exhibitions at The Class of ’47, the storied Newport bar once favored by John Wayne.

Inspiration for him comes as much from human connection as from solitude. “Unlike most artists, I’m extremely extroverted,” he says. “I love talking through ideas with friends and even strangers. Conversations inspire me just as much as the act of creating itself.” Music, writing, playing guitar, and a steady flow of coffee keep the creative momentum going.

 

October 5th: Live Painting at Artspace Warehouse

On October 5th, Artspace Warehouse will host Jesse for a live painting event, offering visitors the chance to watch his process unfold in real time. True to form, it won’t be a quiet or cautious performance. It will be fast, physical, and driven by instinct—layers built and stripped back, colors colliding, imagery taking shape before your eyes. Just like his life, his work refuses to stand still.

 

Event Details:

Date: Sunday, October 5th

Time: 2:00 – 4:00 PM

Location: Artspace Warehouse, 7358 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Admission to this event is complimentary and open to the public.