Artist Overview
Jessica Rankin was born in 1971 in Sydney and lives and works in New York. creates expansive maps of landscapes dotted with codes, signs, and symbols that refer to the processes of memory, intuition, and interpretation. Mountain ranges, constellations, thermodynamic readings, lines of stream-of-consciousness text, and neurological signals morph, merge, and stretch across her embroideries and works on paper. Expansive and intuitive, Rankin’s works are also often marked by swathes of vibrant colour that appear as stains, splotches, or coiling lines.
Rankin has exhibited widely since the 1990s. She has held solo exhibitions at Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta; PS1 Contemporary Arts Center, New York; and Franklin Artworks, Minneapolis. She has participated in major group exhibitions at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy (2024); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (2015); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2006); The Project, Los Angeles (2005); and Artist’s Space, New York (2003). Rankin’s work is represented in private and public collections internationally.
