JESSICA BRILLI

"Night Swimming" is a painting of a pool at night with a diving board. Echo Books wanted to use it for the cover of “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam and now Netflix has made it into a movie with Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali. I’m curious if my painting influenced any of the visuals." - JB

Jessica Brilli has been drawing and painting since her childhood. Working in a style that encompasses American realism and 20th century graphic design aesthetics, Brilli’s paintings reveal the beauty in everyday scenes and objects.

Inspired by Kodachrome slides and generations-old photographs gathered from yard sales and basements across America, Brilli brings a contemporary eye to subjects often overlooked or forgotten. She sees her paintings as a way of giving renewed life to images that haven’t been seen in decades. Having had no direct experience with the images, the process of painting them takes on a different dimension for Brilli; like borrowing memories and elaborating, editing, or directing stories that intersect the knowledge and assumptions of two people who are strangers to each other.