Jimi Gleason

What Light

2023

Throughout his career, painter Jimi Gleason has explored the relationship between color, light and space and how the viewer perceives each. Like reflections off a water’s surface, it has been said that Gleason’s iridescent abstract paintings appear to “shift,” creating an almost “meditative experience.” 

Gleason was born in 1961 in Newport Beach, California. In 1985, he graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the University of California, Berkeley. Following graduation, Gleason became a printmaker at the San Franciso Art Institute and worked as a studio assistant to renowned abstract painter Ed Moses.

In 1987, Gleason moved to New York City, where he worked as a photo assistant to his high school friend, photographer Matt Sees. During that period, Gleason learned a great deal about the photo development process, which inspired his signature luminescent painting technique. “...I kept seeing these Cibachrome prints, big shiny photos,” he said. “I wanted to bring some of that back into painting, to steal it back.”

To achieve the unique, reflective qualities of his paintings, Gleason uses silver nitrate mixed with acrylic paints applied to chemically treated, acrylic-coated canvas. While there is a provocative interplay of color and texture at work, the surface of each piece acts as a mirror that also interacts with light, creating different perceptive experiences for the viewer. 

Over the years, numerous galleries, such as the William Turner Gallery in Santa Monica, have exhibited Gleason's work. His art is also held in public and private collections, including Dakota Studios in New York, Hilton Headquarters in McLean, Virginia, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and Sun America, Kaufman Broad Home Corporation in Los Angeles. 

On 1stDibs, find original Jimi Gleason paintings, mixed media works and other art.