Jesús Salas

Jesus Salas (b. 1991) is an artist based in the Bay Area. Since joining NIAD Art Center in 2014, he has produced hundreds of prints and works on paper that record travel, routine, memory, and the steady passage of time. 

Salas brings a sculptor’s sensibilities to his flat works. Many compositions are built up from layers of numbers, symbols, or colorful hatch marks. Other scenes are detailed tales from the road: precise renderings of buses on folded paper, in which the vehicle’s exterior is described on the outer panels, and its interior, with rows of empty seats, is drawn across the inner spread. Salas outlines the windows and windshield so that designs from either side show through when the paper is held up to the light. 

With series that range from densely patterned abstractions to more legible landscapes and travel logs, Salas maps the incremental shifts in his surrounding environment. 

Jesus Salas work has been featured in group exhibitions at Art Enables, Washington D.C.; the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA; NAP Projects, New York, NY; and Art and Learning Studio, Portland, OR.