Jason Clifton
...with all due respect.
February 2nd-27th, 2024
and will feature performance by various musicians including Jason Clifton and Myles Lundy.
This First Friday come meet Ellensburg artist Jason Clifton and soak up a variety of visual art while enjoying a music session of spinning records and acoustic music courtesy of Clifton himself and Myles Lundy.
This collection of work is Clifton’s visual reflections of aspects of distinctly American folk music. Styles such as the blues, grunge, and hip hop, of the 80’s and 90’s underpin imagery and modality of the artist’s vision. Emerging from the skate culture of Southern California, Clifton’s work elevates and pays homage to influential skateboarding legends and musicians of the time and place of this unique American phenomena. Growing up near Bakersfield and having moved around California during the 80’s and 90’s, Clifton was profoundly influenced by a regional burgeoning skateboard community from which his aesthetic and medium(s) evolved.
Jason Clifton is primarily a self-taught artist, muralist, and graffiti writer, his many techniques and distinct style were learned and adopted over his many years of creating art both in the studio and on the streets. In 2023 he was an Artistic Contributor to Ellensburg Postcard Mural Project, responsible for Ellensburg Skate Park Heritage Mural Project and the Screaming Trees Memorial Project also in Ellensburg. He completed a 2-year internship with Roy Fussfield and was the featured artist at NuWave Gallery in Ellensburg, WA in 2023. Other accolades include being the 2017 & 2018 CWU Graffiti Battle winner and the Ellensburg Downtown Association Artist of The Year in 2019. Clifton resides in Ellensburg Washington where his work can be seen in local businesses and alleyways alike.
This collection of work is Clifton’s visual reflections of aspects of distinctly American folk music. Styles such as the blues, grunge, and hip hop, of the 80’s and 90’s underpin imagery and modality of the artist’s vision. Emerging from the skate culture of Southern California, Clifton’s work elevates and pays homage to influential skateboarding legends and musicians of the time and place of this unique American phenomena. Growing up near Bakersfield and having moved around California during the 80’s and 90’s, Clifton was profoundly influenced by a regional burgeoning skateboard community from which his aesthetic and medium(s) evolved.
Jason Clifton is primarily a self-taught artist, muralist, and graffiti writer, his many techniques and distinct style were learned and adopted over his many years of creating art both in the studio and on the streets. In 2023 he was an Artistic Contributor to Ellensburg Postcard Mural Project, responsible for Ellensburg Skate Park Heritage Mural Project and the Screaming Trees Memorial Project also in Ellensburg. He completed a 2-year internship with Roy Fussfield and was the featured artist at NuWave Gallery in Ellensburg, WA in 2023. Other accolades include being the 2017 & 2018 CWU Graffiti Battle winner and the Ellensburg Downtown Association Artist of The Year in 2019. Clifton resides in Ellensburg Washington where his work can be seen in local businesses and alleyways alike.
...With All Due Respect includes a variety of Ellensburg Artist Jason Clifton’s output over the past several years. For the artist, this exhibition is a moment to gather and take time to reflect and take stock in his labor, its a moment to trace the path taken to reflect and trace lineages.
This collection of paintings and images is intermittently a snapshot in time connected and inspired by the thinking, music, and culture of musicians. Juxtaposed other works with notable influences from a tradition and style of train-writing graffiti, which dates back centuries, and sacred geometries and numerology found in nature and mathematics.
Clifton’s works hinge on the languages of color, symbols, and icons with which they succinctly convey notions of place, time, and occasionally opinion. Stemming from ancient modalities of language, these signs and symbols prevail in the work, and like the simple ancient drawings on cave walls Clifton’s work leans into mechanisms for meaning as his works trace a lineage, reaching beyond the gallery, into both present and lost history by placing the image, icon, and object in our time. As a muralist and graffiti writer place, placement, and materiality become overt tools of his trade. For example, the symbol of the bird -recently adopted- becomes a metaphor for the graffiti artist themselves: in transition, moving through environments, seeking opportunity and finally a place to roost. An exceptional example of the impact of scale shift and context is his works: Bird Mural House, at 300 S Pine, Ellensburg, WA. Other times, the virtuous gorilla becomes his icon of struggle with narcissistic human tendencies and vulnerability while simultaneously operating as a symbol of power and strength. These works, paired with portraits, sketches, print, and sculptural image transfer techniques, exemplify the spectrum of Clifton’s skill and perceptions of his world.
This collection of paintings and images is intermittently a snapshot in time connected and inspired by the thinking, music, and culture of musicians. Juxtaposed other works with notable influences from a tradition and style of train-writing graffiti, which dates back centuries, and sacred geometries and numerology found in nature and mathematics.
Clifton’s works hinge on the languages of color, symbols, and icons with which they succinctly convey notions of place, time, and occasionally opinion. Stemming from ancient modalities of language, these signs and symbols prevail in the work, and like the simple ancient drawings on cave walls Clifton’s work leans into mechanisms for meaning as his works trace a lineage, reaching beyond the gallery, into both present and lost history by placing the image, icon, and object in our time. As a muralist and graffiti writer place, placement, and materiality become overt tools of his trade. For example, the symbol of the bird -recently adopted- becomes a metaphor for the graffiti artist themselves: in transition, moving through environments, seeking opportunity and finally a place to roost. An exceptional example of the impact of scale shift and context is his works: Bird Mural House, at 300 S Pine, Ellensburg, WA. Other times, the virtuous gorilla becomes his icon of struggle with narcissistic human tendencies and vulnerability while simultaneously operating as a symbol of power and strength. These works, paired with portraits, sketches, print, and sculptural image transfer techniques, exemplify the spectrum of Clifton’s skill and perceptions of his world.
When I ask what drives Jason to keep making art, he doesn't hesitate to answer, “I continue to make art because It’s a way to express myself, it is therapy, its is governed my own hand, eye, and aesthetic tendency. I make art because it is proof it can be done. I make it because my soul must do it..." when I inquire about his recent bird images he replies, “I paint birds because they happen to be colorful, like graffiti, they are portraits, and a reflection of a moment in time, they are there, then gone.”
Jason's paintings trace a lineage of printmaking contemporaries and street art and graffiti writing; from artists as influential as Andy Warhol to numerous hip-hop & grunge musicians and groups, skateboard culture, pop culture, comic book characters and motifs influenced by artists' like Todd McFarlain (the creator of Spawn, from Marvel Comics) and Scotty Young. While blending in references to comics, pop art, and skate culture. His works bring together the energy and emotion from his environment and walk in life to the format of the canvas, panel, and street. It is observable then, that Jason's painting positions itself between genres and balances terms like Fine Art and Street Art through his mechanism of meaning; the careful observer then finds appreciation and familiarity within his imagery and technique.
-KS
Jason's paintings trace a lineage of printmaking contemporaries and street art and graffiti writing; from artists as influential as Andy Warhol to numerous hip-hop & grunge musicians and groups, skateboard culture, pop culture, comic book characters and motifs influenced by artists' like Todd McFarlain (the creator of Spawn, from Marvel Comics) and Scotty Young. While blending in references to comics, pop art, and skate culture. His works bring together the energy and emotion from his environment and walk in life to the format of the canvas, panel, and street. It is observable then, that Jason's painting positions itself between genres and balances terms like Fine Art and Street Art through his mechanism of meaning; the careful observer then finds appreciation and familiarity within his imagery and technique.
-KS
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