Jeremy Shipley

I am an artist and author from the rural Illinois countryside of the Saint Louis Metropolitan Region. I have a background studying traditional drawing and painting methods as well as comparative literature, and began incorporating digital imaging techniques into my creative process while earning my MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis. Since graduate school, I have worked various jobs in printing, imaging, document preparation, and have also taught university art courses in drawing, design, digital media, and art history. While continuing to share my work with an expanding audience of like-minded fans of science fiction and fantasy, I have also collaborated on published projects for comics, zines, book covers, and role-playing adventure games.

My interdisciplinary practice thrives at the ontological intersection of Art and Literature, and the research I do looks at how basic design principles can be used to tell stories in abstract, experimental, and emotionally responsible ways. Because the fluency of visual literacy varies widely in an increasingly isolated and mediated society, I am particularly interested in how the language of computer graphics is used to distort perceptions of class inequality and mental wellness within popular culture. The uncanny characters and melancholic environments depicted in many of my pictures are subliminally shaped by the remote life experiences of those who are marginalized, communities that have been gentrified, and populations that lack the same access to cultural opportunities as others.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, collecting physical media, and sharing my passion of drawing and visual culture with others.