The Process

I don't think of my work as being primarily conceptual. I think of it as an arrangement of visual elements that begin and end in concept. By this I am saying that although my work begins and ends in the concept behind the work, all aspects are of equal value: the idea, the process, the finished piece. I take pleasure in all of these things.

The idea begins for me as a very raw impression. At the heart of it is something of value, but in the initial mental thumbnails, the idea becomes somewhat opaque or rhetorical. After a period of time the idea is abandoned, or referred to the subconscious, as I put it, to be revisited later. Then a period of collecting takes place where information is given an abstract relationship to the original idea. At times this takes place while I am working on a piece and at other times it is when I am least occupied with the subject. Whenever it is, this spontaneous revisitation of the original idea is put to the forefront of thought and given the time that is needed for bringing [a work] into being.

This "bringing it into being" is the process I am referring to. The process is as much cognitive as it is physical labor. Sometimes it means setting up problems on the canvas and allowing them to be worked out there or left on the canvas to conduct the rest of the work. Other times it means contributing still further thought and discussion to the idea. This is perhaps the most interesting part of a work of art for me. Some may enjoy the novelty of the idea or the skill of the technique, but for me it is seeing how a piece came together. I am interested is seeing what the artist abandoned as well as what is retained in the work of art. What is left and presented at the end of the process is the resulting work of art.

The finished piece is possibly the least interesting aspect of a work of art for me. Although it is the window through which I can look to see the process and perhaps the idea, it is the very tip of the iceberg, so to speak. I say this because it is not the actual painting that I find interesting, but rather, the impression the piece has made in me, and the ideas I am able to reap. The fruit of the artist's toil is not found in the finished piece, but rather in the reception of the viewer. The work, after all, is about abstract thought, it is about being human.

- Jamison Rieger

Quick Info

Born in 1969

Graduated SDSU in1999.

Established his North Dakota studio on the farm his grandfather started in 1917.

Chosen as one of twenty artists to represent the art of San Diego at Super bowl XXXVII hosted by the city of San Diego.