Jason Stout received his BFA in studio art from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2001 and a MFA in Painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2004.  Stout’s work visually deals with elements of formal and figurative abstraction, while exploring such themes as power, history, and identity, especially through the guise of southern culture.  His work exists in several private and public collections, including the University of West Georgia, Jacksonville State University, and the University of Tennessee at Martin. During his career he has participated in several solo exhibitions and has been a part of several group exhibitions as well. He is currently serves as Professor of Art at the University of Tennessee at Martin and is represented by REM gallery in San Antonio, Texas and Circuitous Succession gallery in Memphis.  Stout was named TAEA Higher Education Art Educator of the Year for 2015-16 and Best of Show at Art of the South 2016. Stout was also the recent recipient of the 2017-2018 Ray and Wilma Smith Award for creative research and the 2019 UTAA Outstanding Teacher Award. His work will be featured in this year’s New American Paintings South Edition 2020.

My current body of work deals with the idea of the modern landscape, both formally and conceptually. In this series idyllic semi abstract representations of a natural environment exist. These landscapes are however altered by human’s existence, even though often no figure is visibly present. Oil derricks and bore holes co-exist with trees, bushes, and mountains, slowly taking over their position. In the foreground the top layer of earth is peeled back, exposing the polluted after effects of fracking and the water contamination that follows. An eerily placed path crawls through the composition as a metaphor for exploring a dangerous road ahead.

Cloud compositions deal with the idea of conflict and turbulence, both domestic and abroad. These clouds also double as nebulas, contracting and expanding energy around the idea of conflict. These works deal with notions of political strife coexisting with environmental concerns, and create compositions of smaller troubled environments coexisting in larger yet equally troubled ones. There are fragmented figurative elements existing in and outside of these clouds, as well as tools, weapons, and vices. These fragments serve as visual metaphors that address specific narratives from our modern time.