Jacqueline S. Nero

B. 1984, Hong Kong

Nero began her training in stone sculpture at age 16 at Silvermine Arts Guild in Connecticut, and studied at the New School University in New York, receiving a Bachelors of Arts Degree in 2006. Forgoing a Master’s of Arts at the time, she pursued an intensive apprenticeship in fine furniture fabrication, restoration, and veneer work under a second generation Ed Barnsley woodworker. After her training, she worked in multi-material fabrication- in Brooklyn and Manhattan- ultimately taking a job with a toy inventor. This work led to a deep affinity for and preoccupation with plastics. She then established her studio in Los Angeles, California, an ideal environment for working with resin. Her main concerns with plastics have been to expand and subvert the material’s traditional uses- to move away from expected commercial and industrial applications- and, combined with her training in stone, push it into a fine arts and decorative object space.

Nero’s work is characterized by the use of custom pigment manipulation/color exploration, tints contrasting with opacities, and the employment of multiple surface finishes and textures (typically showcased all in one piece). Nero’s sculptures hover between the abstract and figurative, often reinterpreting traditional forms, modern movements, and contemporary objects. Everyday aspects of modern society are explored in acrylic, resin, rubber, and stone- exposed legs, skateboarding, dancing, talking on telephones, lipstick, bags- resulting in familiar, yet surreally primitive representations.

In addition to her sculpture practice, Nero is currently pursuing studies toward a Master’s degree in Object Conservation and works professionally in the field. She worked as a kinetic sculpture technician at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for two years, and is now an assistant to a conservator specializing in outdoor sculpture.

Nero has recently relocated the studio from Los Angeles and lives and sculpts in New York City and Silvermine, Connecticut, where she is reimagining earlier forms in organic materials more reflective of this space (stone, metals, wood, etc.) This evolution will undoubtedly produce larger-scale works with a similar ethos: playing with structural support and spatial dynamics and joining disparate shapes and materials with fluidity.

Select Exhibitions and Features: Fort Mason Art Center, San Francisco, CA. Mama Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Architectural Digest Design Show, New York, NY. Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA. The Future Perfect/Casa Perfect, Los Angeles, CA. Kelly Wearstler Private Residence, Malibu, CA. Totokaelo Showroom, SoHo, New York, NY. Rhode Island School of Design Library, Providence, RI. Tusk, Chicago, IL. Stockstill Studio, Los Angeles, CA. Pink Essay, Cloakroom Magazine. Sight Unseen Saturday Selects.