Biography
Jason Mena is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans installation, painting, drawing, video, and photography. His work explores issues of authorship, ownership, financial concerns, poverty, and manipulation, often delving into the intersection of art and commerce. By connecting local issues with broader global political critiques, Mena examines the power dynamics between the center and the periphery, inviting viewers to reflect on the complexities of the human experience within a wider socio-political context, encouraging deeper contemplation of our roles in the world.
Mena holds a BFA in painting from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico and studied Photography at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts Low-Residency Program at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, before completing an MFA in Art Practice from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He was an artist-in-residence at The Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Hotel Charleroi at B.P.S.22 Musée d'art de la Province de Hainaut, Belgium, and BACO-Batuco Arte Contemporáneo, Chile. He was awarded a Lexus Grant for the Arts, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and twice nominated for the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design Award.
Mena's work has been featured in notable publications by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes de Mexico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, The New Yorker, Museum of Latin American Art, Yale School of Architecture, Queens Museum, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the University of California UCLA, and has participated in group and individual exhibitions at various institutions such as Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Unicorn Centre for Art, Bombas Gens Centre d'Art, Palais de Tokyo, 3rd edition of The San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo de Costa Rica, Karachi Biennale, Hessel Museum of Art, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Delaware Art Museum, Wallach Art Gallery, Museo de Arte Moderno de Santo Domingo, Museu das Comunicações de Lisboa, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, and Museu Mineiro, among others.