Spotlight Artist

Jesse Zuo

MFA Annual
Jesse Zuo's headshot

Lush

Surreal portrait of a woman with green eyes and braided hair against a green background.

oil on panel

Rain

Hands gripping a yellow shirt and holding a white umbrella handle, warm yellow lighting.

oil on panel

Warmth

Two people embracing warmly, rendered in soft orange tones.

oil on panel

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

Jesse Zuo is a New York-based figurative painter whose work explores womanhood and everyday intimate moments through a lens of traditional realism. Her recent practice centers on the interplay of light and shadow, with color emerging as a natural consequence of illumination rather than a deliberate choice, blurring the boundary between what is seen, felt, and remembered.

Resume

Education

  • Master of Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, US

Solo Exhibitions

  • Photosynthesis, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami, FL, US
  • My Safe Place, LATITUDE Gallery, New York, NY, US

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • For Scale Only, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
  • Youth Will Always Win, Long Story Short Paris, Paris, FR
  • Focus Tension, Plato Gallery, New York, NY, US

Discover more artists from the MFA Annual

THE MAGAZINE

Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists

Open magazine with text, modern illustrations, and a list of artists on a pink background.
View issues

Call for Artists

Submit your work for consideration

New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.

View competitions

Your gateway to new art

Discover tomorrow's art stars, today

Two books on a wooden table with a modern decorative sculpture in the background.

PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$159/YEAR

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH

Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.