Jason Alexander Byers

In paintings, photographs, sculptures, drawings, and prints, Jason Alexander Byers draws on the graphic power of design and illustration, borrowing heavily from the vibrant imagery of heavy metal and punk rock. Referring to both rock ‘n’ roll album covers and painters such as Kenneth Noland and Jasper Johns, Byers’s print Dixie Plant (2010) features a circular turquoise target overlaid with the white silhouette of a cannabis leaf. A logo designed by Robert Plant for the album Led Zeppelin IV (1971) is set at the center, conflating themes of rock, pot, and art. Byers also incorporates political imagery—including missiles and the UN logo—into his pieces. His tar-on-paper works, such as 22:05 (2014) and 9:47 (2014), consist of altered film stills lifted from cult movies. He mirrors and rotates the images, eroding their original legibility and evoking the appearance of Rorschach ink blots.