ABOUT

Jason Willaford has implemented discarded vinyl billboards as his medium since 2012. The material has been used to create multiple series that include outdoor sculpture, site-specific installation, and wall-based objects that defy traditional categorization. In his newest works, Willaford revisits a more intimate scale to create a hybrid of sculpture and painting. Utilizing symbolic and abstract imagery, Willaford uses an industrial sewing machine and acrylic paint to weave personal narratives into these intricate compositions. In this latest series, Willaford reflects on his childhood spent fishing with his father in the waters of Florida’s mangrove swamps and how the lessons of learning to observe carefully have remained influential through adulthood as an artist.

Jason Willaford received his BFA from Florida State University where he studied under Jim Roche and Color Field painter Trevor Bell. After years as an encaustic painter in Marfa, Texas, he shifted his focus to vinyl-based constructions, which were exhibited in a solo exhibition at Oklahoma Contemporary in 2014. In the summer of 2015, Willaford participated in a residency at the former home and studio of Elaine de Kooning in East Hampton, NY and presented the resulting body of work in a solo show at Dallas Contemporaryl. In 2019, Willaford was commissioned by Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado to create an outdoor billboard installation, joining artists like Spencer Finch who have also completed the project. His work can be found in over 200 private and the public collections, including Bloomingdales, Toyota Headquarters, Fidelity, Clements Collection UTSW, Kirkpatrick Foundation, and Neiman Marcus. He lives and works in Dallas, TX.