Jim Campbell on Perception, Memory, Mental Illness, and the Art of Low Resolution

In this episode, artist Jim Campbell speaks with Hugh Leeman about the experiences that shaped his life and work from growing up around electronics in Chicago and struggling through MIT, to making deeply personal art rooted in family history, memory, disability, and grief. Campbell reflects on the early Tenderloin exhibition that changed his career, the emotional origins of works like Hallucinations and Shock Treatment, and the way low resolution imagery invites viewers into a more primal, meditative form of perception. The conversation also explores Campbell’s public work atop Salesforce Tower, his evolving thoughts on abstraction, and the importance of creating opportunities for emerging artists.