Jesse Mockrin

When artist @jessemockrin looks at Renaissance paintings, she can’t help but see the gender-based violence in them. Her new exhibit, Echo, at @agotoronto through March 8th reimagines these works from a feminist perspective — shifting focus to the women whose stories have long been overlooked or erased in historical art. ➡️ Scroll to see some of her works mentioned on today’s show. 🎧Find her full interview on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 🔗 Link in bio. Images courtesy of the artist.

Hi 2026, I’ve been getting ready for you ✍️

I’m so pleased that two of my works are on view this week at Marquez Art Projects in Miami. From MAP: Jesse Mockrin (b.1981, Maryland) creates luminous oil paintings that revisit the details of European Old Masters—in particular masterpieces of the Baroque and Rococo periods—through a contemporary and feminine lens. For Mockrin, art historical narratives are prompt an ongoing conversation about images, time, appropriation, and gender constructs. Mockrin’s paintings often see their subjects fragmented or enlarged, with elements combined in unfamiliar ways. The results imbue the biblical and mythological canon with new layers of significance and points of view. @marquezartprojects Face to Face, 2021 Oil on cotton 30 x 43 inches Haunted, 2023 Oil on linen 37 x 25 inches

I have two new paintings on copper at Miami Basel. Stop by Night Gallery’s booth to see them in person! They are based on 18th century wax anatomical models of women that are both beautiful and deeply abject. From the gallery: “Venus with Pearls” captures a woman’s profile in sleep, her face surrendered to complete repose. A purple pillowcase and luminous pearls at her throat evoke royalty—not the pomp of crowns and thrones, but the quiet luxury of undisturbed rest. The work draws inspiration from the so-called “Anatomical Venus,” created between 1780 and 1782 in the workshop of master ceroplastician (wax artist) Clemente Susini and his director Felice Fontana. That wax figure defied easy categorization, engineered as the genre-defining exemplar of what would later become known as “Slashed Beauties” or “Dissected Graces.” Mockrin’s signature approach reinvents this lineage for contemporary viewers, merging the visual language of Old Masters with present-day subjects to create a work that feels simultaneously ancient and immediate, as though painted centuries ago and yesterday at once. @nightgallery Venus with Pearls, 2025 oil on cooper 20 x 16 inches Model Venus, 2025 Oil on cooper 20 x 16 inches

I made a trio of oval-shaped paintings for my solo exhibition at the AGO that reference historical depictions of the death of Rachel and the birth of Benjamin. A rare subject in European art history, I was drawn to the story as illustrating another facet of motherhood. The Madonna and infant Jesus is the most common maternal image and was often painted on a tondo, the round shape echoing the birthing plates that marked the celebration of new life. From the AGO: The Book of Genesis in the Hebrew and Christian bibles recounts the life of Rachel. She and her sister Leah were both married to Jacob, and while Leah had many children, Rachel was unable to conceive for years. After years of disappointment, she gave birth to two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. She died giving birth to her second son, after years of desperately wishing to become a mother. Artwork: Longing, 2025 Oil on linen 43 x 33 x 1 1/2 in Heartsick, 2025 Oil on linen 43 x 33 x 1 1/2 in A Cry is Heard, 2025 Oil on linen 43 x 33 x 1 1/2 in @agotoronto @adamlevineago

Final days to see my solo exhibition “First Romance” at James Cohan Gallery. This new series of drawings depicts young men in uniform, ranging from 16th Century Italian soldiers to contemporary actors. The show closes this Saturday, November 1. From James Cohan Gallery: First Romance juxtaposes the struggles of male youth in today’s America, masculinity on film, the underage soldiers of the Civil War, present-day Civil War reenactors, and Italian Renaissance paintings of young noblemen and soldiers. Mockrin traces a developing history of performative dress for battle, from ornate medieval armor to Western flannel shirts. These uniforms are signifiers of masculinity, advertising the nationality, allegiance, rank, and character of the boys they adorn even as they flatten individuality. She plays up the contrast between the awkward physicality of her subjects and the ornate weaponry they wield, as if they are naively playing dress up. @jamescohangallery @sascha_ Photo credit: Dan Bradica Untitled 8 (First Romance) Untitled 10 (First Romance) Untitled 3 (First Romance) 2025 Graphite on paper
12 x 9 in (unframed)
13 3/4 x 10 3/4 in (framed)

I’m beyond thrilled the AGO has acquired my painting “Fracture” (2024)! It’s currently on veiw adjacent to its inspiration, Nicolas Tournier’s “The Judgement of Solomon” (1625), in the ER Wood gallery until March 8. From the press release: “While exploring the AGO’s incredible collection of 17th-century objects, I was struck by the violence they contained, particularly towards women. Obscured by historical trappings and artistic skill, there is a recurring pattern in the ways that Judith, Bathsheba, Daphne, Eve, the Sabine women, and the unnamed women of the Judgment of Solomon are portrayed as marginalized in their own stories,” says Mockrin. “By focusing in on details from these works, by liberating these figures from their original context, my hope is that I can empower the viewer to see these figures with empathy, and to see historical art anew.” Fracture, 2024 Oil on linen 36 x 56 in. @agotoronto @adamlevineago

I am excited to share some installation shots of my exhibition “Echo,” currently on view at the AGO through March 8, 2026. Photo Credit: Craig Boyko / AGO @agotoronto @adamlevineago

Join me @jamescohangallery today at 2 pm for a talk with the wonderful writer Jacoba Urist! We’ll be talking about my new show up at the gallery, “First Romance,” as well as my first museum publication, “Echo.” Jacoba wrote the essay for the book and I am very much looking forward to chatting with her. I’ll be signing exhibition catalogs after the talk. Hope to see you there! James Cohan Gallery 52 Walker Street Saturday, October 11th 2 pm Untitled 5 (First Romance), 2025 Graphite on paper 12 x 9 in

I’m thrilled to announce “First Romance,” my second solo exhibition @jamescohangallery opens tomorrow, Oct 10th! The new series of drawings depicts young men in uniform, ranging from 16th Century Italian soldiers to contemporary actors. The opening reception is from 6-8 pm on Friday at 52 Walker Street and I will be giving an artist talk on Saturday, Oct 10th at the gallery at 2 pm. From James Cohan: This series is rooted in Mockrin’s ongoing study of aestheticized masculinity – past bodies of work have taken Korean pop idols, androgynous Gucci models and the rakish boys of John Singer Sargent as her disparate sources. She upends and makes strange Western art historical precedents for hypermasculine and hyperfeminine beauty ideals, obscuring gendered features to emphasize androgyny. For the artist, this gender fluidity allows for multiplicities of interpretation, desire, and desirability and points to the changing codes of gender across time and culture. Untitled 7 (First Romance), 2025 Graphite on paper 12 x 9 in

"Witness" is a new work making its debut at the AGO. It is one of several new works that responds directly to works in the AGO collection. Inspired by "The Toilet of Bathsheba" c.1663 by Luca Giordano, in "Witness" I removed all the other figures to focus on the two women at the heart of the story. Many thanks to my friends Jen and Nikki who posed for this painting. Scroll through to see the original reference which hangs in ER Wood, the AGO's Baroque gallery. From the AGO: In the Bible, King David sends a servant to summon Bathsheba, the wife of one of his military leaders, to his bedchamber. Bathsheba becomes pregnant and David starts a war so that he can send her husband to his death on the battlefield and then marry her. When Luca Giordano painted this story around 1663, he depicted David’s servant as a Black woman, a reference to contemporary race-based slavery. Mockrin removes the other figures in her painting and invites us to look at the nameless servant and Bathsheba with new humanity and empathy. Witness, 2025 Oil on linen Each: 37 x 25 in Overall: 37 x 50 in @agotoronto / @adamlevineago / @jamescohangallery

My solo exhibition “Echo” is currently on view at the AGO through March 8, 2026. Tribute (2025) is my first still life painting. With curator Adam Harris Levine, I researched plants historically used by women in Europe to regulate reproduction. I planted seeds in my studio and grew some of these plants in my yard in Philadelphia. In the early summer, I made them into a bouquet for this piece. Tribute (Plants Used in the Past for Conception, Contraception and Abortion: meadow rue, echinacea, parsley, doubtful knight’s-spur, larkspur, hellebore, mint, silver knapweed and sunflower), 2025 Oil on linen 37 x 25 in @adamlevineago @agotoronto A special thanks to @tania.qurashi for all your help over many months with this work!