Jeremy Shires was born in South Africa in 1961.  He was raised with a great enthusiasm for the outdoors and developed an affinity for painting en plein air at a young age.  He immigrated to the United States in 1971 and has since resided throughout the United States, including in the Southeast, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.  He travels continually within these regions as well as Cape Cod and the Southwestern United States; and, internationally in Mexico, Italy, and South Africa – always capturing the regional landscapes and subject matters in their natural light.

Mr. Shires employs the alla prima technique in his en plein air paintings, meaning the paintings are started and completed in one painting session, outdoors, on-location.  His intent is to express a natural and visceral response to the moment in capturing the light, color, atmospheric and temporal conditions, environment, shapes of a particular setting, and then to connect that expression in paint to the culture specific to that region.

Mr. Shires earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach in 1985 and a Master of Fine Arts from School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1994.  He has taught Drawing Fundamentals, Design, and Materials/Methods as an adjunct faculty member at Bergen County Community College in New Jersey since 1995.  Mr. Shires currently resides with his family in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Galeria 19 Fine Art in Fredericksburg, Texas is Jeremy Shires' exclusive representative in Texas.

Works