Off the heels of this survey—the primary European exhibition devoted to the artist—Jackson’s first main museum retrospective has simply opened on the San Francisco Museum of Trendy Artwork (SFMOMA). Titled “Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love,” the present is co-organized with the Walker Artwork Heart, Minneapolis, the place it’ll journey in spring 2026 earlier than concluding on the Museum of Fantastic Arts Boston. That includes greater than 80 works, the exhibition is organized chronologically, following Jackson’s singular life and profession throughout coasts and myriad artwork kinds, from dance and theater design to portray and sculpture.
“The previous 5 years Ortuzar gallery has had me all around the world and locations I by no means anticipated to be. After I was in artwork college at San Francisco State Faculty [now University], we had been taught that one wouldn’t obtain all this excellent consideration till you grew to become my age, and the work is mature sufficient,” Jackson, as humble and gracious as she is endearing and confident, tells Vogue. “I don’t consider that I’m the age that I’m proper now.”
Jackson calls the present, which was 5 years within the making, a “present”: “San Francisco is my metropolis. My dad and mom introduced me right here once I was 9 months previous, and it’s the place I had my first artwork courses in faculty. It additionally makes me actually proud as a result of that is the place the place my dad and mom excelled.” In the course of the Nice Migration, Jackson’s dad and mom moved from Saint Louis to San Francisco, the place they had been lively of their group. Jackson’s father was a realtor, in addition to a trolley and cable automobile driver, whereas her mom was a seamstress who additionally had a penny sweet retailer.
When she was eight, Jackson’s household moved to pre-statehood Fairbanks, Alaska, whose wild panorama left a long-lasting impression on her, finally informing each her painterly topics and her lifelong devotion to environmentalism. In 1961 she returned to San Francisco for faculty, the place she majored in portray, minored in drama and dance, and did coursework in scenic design and performing. She additionally studied with Pacific Ballet throughout this time and modeled professionally.