Dr. Jackie Tileston

Biography

Jackie Tileston’s work references a range of interests including cultural hybridity and critical theory, employing abstraction as a language that mediates ephemeral physicality. Her paintings create complex images that investigate contemporary sublime states. The new work incorporates practices of meditation, trance techniques, entheogenic experiences, and conceptual processes based on automatic drawing. Tileston sees her art as an exploration of forms that access knowledge through a foundation in nondual tantric philosophy. The artworks embody the idea that everything is an ecstatic manifestation of Awareness—consciousness appearing in the world, which is glorious and weird. Her paintings and drawings serve as energy transmissions, functioning like tuning forks that capture vibrations, patterns, and the pulsing frequencies of coalescing forms and movements. They can be interpreted as topographic maps of unknown realms, reflecting expressions of cosmic play and serving as a visual equivalent to sound waves emerging from a field of potential. Originally from Manila, Philippines, Tileston spent her childhood as a 'Third Culture Kid', living in various countries including India, England, and France. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an MFA from Indiana University, with her work featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in major cities such as Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Dallas. Moreover, she has been a recipient of prestigious fellowships including the Core Fellowship Residency, Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency, and Guggenheim Fellowship.

Research Interests