Jared Freschman is a queer Jewish-American artist from Delaware. He illustrates artworks that exhibit his experiences or memories and share the perspective of the queer community.

Freshman has been drawing since the day he could hold a pen. He remembers attending his first adult art class when he was 12 years old, and he got his first job as an illustrator when he was 20. Growing up, Freshman was surrendered by classical Israeli paintings and hieroglyphs because of his family’s relation to Israel and Egypt. He got his BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he says he fell in love with pop art. Hence his style and compositions got influenced by these two aspects, creating a synthesis.

Interested in spirituality and energy, Freschman works with popping colors that match his openness to experiencing relationships. He focuses on what kind of relationships humans have with each other and with their surroundings. He explores the topic through the lens of technology and pop culture both of which have shaped the connection between people. The artist uses colored pencils, watercolors, and acrylic paints as his medium of choice when illustrating.

Freshman states that he wants to create a queer space through his art, where he presents the spectrum of gender identity, sexuality, and intimacy between queer individuals. By picturing queer relationships, he aims to change the one-sided view on the topic and help embed it into the “universally normal” expectations of societies. Living and working in Brooklyn, he considers New York to be his safe space where he embraces his queer Jewish identity while creating freely and living with his true values.

The artist’s illustrations were a part of the project “NYC Pride: LGBTQIA+ Artists” which showcased 25 New York-based LGBTQIA+ designers, illustrators, and artists on LinkNYC screens throughout the month of June 2019. The same year he exhibited at Cooler Gallery in Brooklyn, New York as part of the group show “A Body Awaits.” In 2021, he participated in the “Pride Outside” group exhibition at The National Arts Club in New York.

In 2022 his works were exhibited in the group show “True Stories” at The Untitled Space in New York and in the group show “That Wilderness Within” at PRIOR Art Space in Barcelona, Spain. His latest showcase was at Field Projects Gallery in New York as part of the group exhibition “NOT EVEN HOME WILL BE WITH YOU FOREVER.”

You can follow Jared Freschman’s Instagram @jaredfresch and keep an eye on his website to discover more about the artist and his illustrations. Don’t forget to share your views with us in our comment section below!