Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason DeMeo.
Hi Jason, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Even though I gravitated towards sports in high school and college, I have always felt a pull toward the arts. When my friends were lifting weights after school, I was sneaking away to the ceramics studio. lol
I have always been a lover of objects and art, I have studied art, collected, and visited galleries…a few years ago I decided it was time for me to create art. My wife and I own an innovation studio (We Are Curio) where we train leaders in our creative process, we have a hospitality brand that creates beautiful spaces called IROX Living but I wanted a space where I could really pour my heart into creatively and have full control over the art.
It started as a personal project, I but as I began to share my art and my process, it seemed that people really connected with it. I just have taken the next step and I have enjoyed it the whole way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Anything worth pursuing is going to come with resistance, so if it was too smooth, I might be a little skeptical. I think the art world is a challenging place, it’s easy to lose your vision, try to please collectors, gallerists, Instagram, etc. I feel good about how I have tried to balance staying true to what my vision for the art is while also trying to be entrepreneurial in my approach.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a contemporary artist creating art that instigates transformation & connection. My work reflects the belief that matter is miraculous. My greatest intention with my creativity is to manifest a world of artifacts, environments, and friendships that celebrate beauty, universal truth, and goodness.
I am of Italian heritage and originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have always appreciated the beauty, serendipity, and surprise that comes with nature and its natural processes. Nature finds a way to create beauty out of the most mundane things…rusted bridges, faded shipping containers, decaying walls…not to mention the unlimited ways that it effortlessly produces art through the use of light, energy, and matter. These unexpected moments of beauty serve as source material for me. I utilize a process I call Reverse Abstraction™ where the painting is applied directly to the floor of the studio, dried and adhered then pulled off bringing “memories” layers of paint from years gone by with it.
I am also exploring a concept I have coined Synthesism™. It stems from the definition of the word synthesis: “the combining of often diverse elements into a coherent whole.” You can see this theme of blending, combining, and remixing happening in many disciplines today, especially music, architecture, and even culture as we grow as a global community. Modernism constructs, post-modernism deconstructs, Synthesism combines. Movements like Bauhaus and Black Mountain College have been instrumental in my thinking.
I have a deep belief in the power of art to bring transformation to both spaces and people, I hope that each one of my works serves as a meditation for the viewer, drawing them into the story and meaning of the piece, while simultaneously inviting them to create their own.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Yes. My wife and I are entrepreneurs and the definition of the word entrepreneur is “bearer of risk.” When we started our first business, we both quit our jobs with the hopes of future income coming in. It was a leap of faith. We have done this over and over with the additional businesses we have started and now with my art practice. It is a risk every time I put out a piece for critique, but that’s what makes it exciting.
Pricing:
- My works range from 1000-15,000 (major custom installation)
Contact Info:
- Email: jason@jasondemeo.art
- Website: jasondemeo.art
- Instagram: @jasondemeo
- Facebook: Jason DeMeo
- Twitter: jasondemeo
