“Despite its abstract nature, DeMeo creates a dynamic and refreshingly self-conscious art that is meant to make viewers feel something and that appeals across aesthetic and cultural divides.

Conceptual and reflective thinking undergirds all DeMeo does, a continued process toward growth and innovation, and making art that motivates his viewers to aspire collectively for a better tomorrow.”

— Dr. H. Alexander Rich Executive Director & Chief Curator Polk Museum of Art

Artist Statement:

Jason DeMeo is a contemporary artist working out of Nashville, Tennessee creating art that instigates transformation & connection. The work reflects his belief that matter is miraculous. Jason’s greatest intention with his creativity is to manifest a world of artifacts, environments, and friendships that celebrate beauty, universal truth, and goodness.

Of Italian heritage and originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jason has always appreciated the beauty, serendipity, and surprise that comes with nature and it’s 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 Jason’s work. He has pioneered an innovative process called Reverse Abstraction™ where the painting is applied directly to the floor of the studio, dried and adhered then pulled off bringing “memory fragments” layers of paint from years gone by with it.

He is exploring a concept that he has 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 his thinking.

WIth a deep belief in the power of art to bring transformation to both spaces and people, he hopes that each one of his 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.