Jason Craighead | Self and System — Tinney Contemporary

Jason Craighead | Self and System

December 5 - January 23, 2016
Opening Reception: December 5th, 6 to 9 pm

Jason Craighead's exhibition of new work at Tinney Contemporary, Self and System, deals with just that, how the sense of self and individualism fits into the greater system of cultural conformity. When it comes to abstract art, many viewers can think that it is impersonal and a semi-intangible experience. Jason Craighead always erases that feeling through his work. "I make work from my heart and nothing is an accident," says Jason Craighead regarding the pieces for this show. "When we choose to seek our very own personal adventure and find our very own personal voice, the cluttered, static, and misleading ideas of a mostly blind society all fall away and our hearts have room to rise."

It is this concept, that of finding a personal voice to erase the structures of our homogenized culture in order to truly free ourselves from mental captivity, that Jason focuses on in this exhibition. He sees his works as smaller parts of the whole spectrum of life, parts of a bigger life. Just as politics, religion, vocational and avocational experiences, etc are all smaller pieces that come together to create this physical life that we live, Jason's works, as he finds the small stories within them that create spaces of hope and peace, formulate the life-spirit by which he lives his personal physical life. He stands against these cookie-cutter facets of life that we all simply drone on within, and he continues to find and express his inner "self" through his art while relating to this greater system of life. Through his artistic exploration and expression, we as viewers are called to find our own personal voice.

Jason's process is one of expressive, emotionally charged mark-making that is raw and honest. Working in mixed media, his exploration of space and line is often compared to the expressionistic, gestural painters of the mid-20th century. Jason Craighead is a recognized leader in the North Carolina art scene and has been an active participant in the Raleigh arts community for many years. His work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions throughout the Southeastern United States, and is included in many private and public collections throughout the United States and internationally. He is a member of the City of Raleigh Arts Commission and serves on the Grants Committee. He is co-founder of Switchhouse, a working studio space and gallery that he and artist Dave Green completed in the spring of 2014. He grew up in Florida where he studied art at Gulf Coast Community College and Florida State University and has been living in downtown Raleigh, NC for sixteen years.

Nashville, Tennessee
Contemporary Art Gallery

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