Rutgers University is presenting a solo exhibition by Jason Baerg, MFA Department of Art & Design alum, in the second iteration of Mason Gross Galleries’s annual exhibition series featuring Contemporary Indigenous artists.
Jason Baerg: Selected Works From Tawâskweyâw is part of the department’s Co-Cureate Shows of artwork by current Mason Gross student artists. Both shows run from September 30 through October 17, 2023, at Mason Gross Galleries in the Civic Square Building, next to the State Theatre New Jersey in downtown New Brunswick. Stop in for Baerg’s free artist talk at 7 p.m. October 3 in Room 110 of the Civic Square Building.
Baerg uses laser cutting as a personal means of breathing new life into paintings, a process he first experimented with while on residency at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He created the Nomadic Bounce Series there, being the first at RMIT to cut paintings. These are considered some of the first laser-cut paintings in the world, and this nimble process of experimentation continues in his studio.
Baerg, a Red River Métis originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, is a member of the Métis Nations of Ontario and actively serves his community as an Indigenous activist, curator, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University and a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University and is pursuing a PhD at Monash University. Baerg was featured in Vogue as one of the “15 Indigenous Artists to Know from This Year’s Santa Fe Indian Market.” In 2023, ELLE Magazine recognized Jason Baerg as one of the “5 Indigenous Fashion Designers You Need to Know.”
Credit: Image courtesy of the artist, from the series Nomadic Bounce.