Utilizing classical painting techniques, Jessica Hess interrupts her hyperrealist landscapes with digital aesthetics. The alternative reality created in the works examines censorship, free speech and the pervasiveness of technology in everyday life. The tightly rendered paintings offer a hyperbolic and perfected version of the scene that extends beyond its reality – flora springs from barren land, idyllic clouds sway across blue skies, the environment takes on a deeper saturation and pixels obscure graffiti. The inclusion of pixelization within the work emphasizes the artist’s intervention within the scene while also asking the viewer to question “What is reality?”
