About Jemal
I'm a Bay Area-based artist, native Californian, exhibiting artist at KALEID Gallery, and member artist with Works/San José, both in downtown San Jose, California.
Visit my studio! Schedule a studio visit with me at Visual Philosophy studios at 1065 The Alameda, in San Jose. I offer private tours for those interested in my process and work.
Artist Statement.
My drawing style comes from the grand tradition of doodling. The smooth, gentle roll of a pen across the pulpy texture of paper is meditative and soothing. It’s the marks we make in the margins while our focused minds are elsewhere I find most interesting. Most of the work is improvisational, with no intended outcome – only hopeful surprises. There are; however, embedded intentional dichotomies to create a playground of visual cues and possible meaning. When I was in art school I would take my abstract drawings to my peers and ask, “What would you title this?” That simple question activated my friend's imagination and engagement in ways that really excited me. When I began posting drawings online with the simple caption, “Title Me,” imaginative, creative, and inspirational titles poured in. It's been 20+ years. I collect all titles, and make selections whenever the work is shown.
Exhibitions.
Recently exhibiting at The Triton Museum's Salon (Santa Clara, CA), The Museum of Northern California Art (Chico, CA), KALEID Gallery (San Jose, CA), Visual Philosophy (San Jose, CA), Works/San Jose, The School of Art & Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza (San Jose, CA), Phantom Galleries (San Jose, CA), and Chopsticks Alley Art (San Jose, CA). Commissoned by both the City of San Jose, and the City of Sunnyvale, CA.
Other exhibitions include with the Ryland Museum (San Jose, CA), Art Ark Gallery (San Jose, CA), Pacific Art League (Palo Alto, CA), Arts Benicia (Benicia, CA), The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (L.A., CA), Fe Gallery (Sacramento, CA), The Marker Hotel (with ArtSpan, San Francisco, CA), and Las Laguna Gallery (Laguna Beach, CA), ARTwork SF (San Francisco, CA), Atlanta International Airport (with Art House Co-op), Red Door Gallery (Oakland, CA), 20th Street Art Gallery (Sacramento, CA), Rock! Paper! Scissors! Gallery (Oakland, CA), Cricket Engine Gallery (Oakland, CA), The Living Room Gallery (Berkeley, CA), Front Room Gallery (Chicago, IL), Telophase Collective (Chicago, IL), G2 Gallery at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in private collection.
Story time!
Sit down, let me tell you a story! It’s wild and fun, but everyone dies at the end. It’s wonderfully wicked but sweet as sugar. It’s best told with all the lights out, and under the covers. It’s really weird with a wonderful mix of spirited magic, horrible tragedy and lots of kissing. There’s light and dark, good and evil, peaks and valleys, and a couple of car chases. There are three prat-falls, and a twist or two… just to keep you guessing. It’s hot and steamy and a little dirty. It’s so exciting it will take your breath away. It steals it in the thick of night and runs across the forest with it. There are fluffy white clouds and dark hard rains. There is seemingly insurmountable despair, but joy beyond compare. Get ready! It’s about to begin…