Jason Hallman is a self-made global artist who draws from personal history, nature, architecture and design. Early in his career he launched Area 51, a mid-century modern furniture store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood that was featured in the New York Times, the Seattle Times and numerous magazines, nationally and internationally. In 2008 he sold the store, began painting, and quickly sold his first work.
What you see in Excavations is both painting and sculpture. Each excavated art piece is made by layering twelve individual paintings, with motivation, intention, patience, joy, freedom and love, then carving into the layers to reveal a new work of art. Each layer is a unique ecstatic act, sealed in time by its successor. Carving through the painted sediment and archaeology reveals fragments of history and ancestry. Drawing inspiration from the earth and its layers of life beneath us, and from the sky overhead holding stars, super novas, the ‘big bang’, we feel the motions in time and space that have created us. From this intense energy of moving tectonic plates and exploding stars a new story is birthed. We are the layers of our past, and a continuously new waking form.
“I love cultivating and bringing beauty into everything I do. Being playful with the materials at hand – strips of canvas, a broom, a screwdriver, palette knives, chisels – sparks my curiosity to experiment with unconventional methods. This dialogue with materials opens a pathway to discover hidden meaning or unearth something new. Inspirations: Warhol’s big colorful expression of simple objects that people connect with and find familiar and playful; and Gerhard Richter’s use of unexpected objects and techniques, like a squeegee or broom, to make spectacular paintings. My father was a professional gambler with a passion for horses and the thrill of taking risks. His blind faith in what was possible if you do what you love and love what you do influenced me to forge a life that is boldly curious. “
