Jason Powell-Smith

Jason Powell-Smith (b. 1993) is a Bay Area artist, sports fan, BART commuter, and news consumer, and his practice is informed by his journeys around the Bay. He works across media, incorporating printmaking, photo-editing, textile design, painting, and drawing techniques. Many images feature people, objects, or concepts arranged in “versus” competitions. In other scenes, he places himself or familiar television characters in local landscapes, merging Bay Area reality with Bay Area fantasy. 

Powell-Smith's work is in the permanent collection of the Oakland Museum of California. He has participated in group exhibitions at Kala Art Institute, Richmond Art Center, the OMCA, and NIAD Art Center.

Jason Powell-Smith has turned an eye to society’s competitive nature. All around us, every day, people are competing, and we may not even notice it. Sure, athletes are the obvious reference – and Jason creates a number of text drawings noting this – but what about ethics – like “good versus evil” or “us versus them”? Powell-Smith wryly tackles many of the arenas in which our competitive nature battles.

Places are important to Jason, who regularly expresses pride in being a Bay Area native, saying “I like the Bay Area because it’s where I grew up.” Bus lines and BART stations remind Jason of specific TV shows and movies which reappear throughout Jason’s art works. 

Printmaking is an important new skill Jason has learned while working at NIAD. Jason credits facilitator Bill Zindel as a significant influence on his printmaking creative process. Jason says he likes working at NIAD because you can work on what you want, wherever you want, however you want.