Working in a variety of media including video, painting, drawing, textiles, music, and performance, Jayson Musson is a provactive shape shifter. In 2010-2012, Musson gained recognition for his hilarious art world send up YouTube video series Art Thoughtz with Hennessy Youngman. From there, he launched into his Coogi sweater paintings series, exploring the in-between spaces of high-art versus craft, intentional versus found abstraction, and, most significantly, the notion of ownership of African-American popular culture.
Musson has had solo exhibitions at Salon 94, New York; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Marginal Utility, and Space 1026, all in Philadelphia; and Dazed & Confused Magazine Gallery, London. He has been featured in numerous group exhibitions at venues including Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Postmasters, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; West Galeria, Den Haag, The Netherlands; Grimmuseum, Berlin, Germany; Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphia; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; and Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, Ohio, among others. Musson received his BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia in 2002 and his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2011. His work in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The Artblog
Jayson Musson
Contemporary Arts Center
Cincinnati, OH
April 6 – September 8, 2024
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 6–8pm
Join us for a conversation with Musson about the work in his current show, Allegory of the Veil.
Jayson Musson explains art history as a sitcom at Philly’s Fabric Workshop and Museum
whyy.org
The Art Angle Podcast: Why Artist Jayson Musson Is Clowning a Humorless Art World
artnet.com
Art history as a sitcom: Jayson Musson serves up satire and nostalgia in Philadelphia exhibition
The Art Newspaper
Puppet Master: The World According to Jayson Musson
ArtForum
Jayson Musson: His History of Art
The Brooklyn Rail
A Bigger Canvas for Jayson Musson Includes Puppets and Picasso
The New York Times
(group)
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, PA
on view through Dec 2019
Trying to find our spot off in that light, light off in that spot, 2014, mercerized cotton stretched over cotton, 72 x 90 x 1 5/8 inches
Jason Musson’s Black Like Me is included in this exhibition highlighting writers who have a hand in designing their own books.
Spruance Art Gallery, Arcadia University
Feb 5–Apr 21, 2019
Organized by Philadelphia Contemporary
Jennifer Levonian’s Xylophone screens on the Cherry Street Pier
Jayson Musson's contribution to Pledges of Allegiance flies on the Race Street Pier
Philadelphia, PA
Oct 13–27, 2018
Group Show including Jayson Musson, curated by Margot Heller with artist Ryan Gander
South London Gallery, London
Sep 22–Nov 18, 2018
(group show)
Lisson Gallery
New York, NY
curated by Cory Arcangel and Tina Kukielski
Jun 24–Oct 13, 2018
Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago, IL
Group show featuring Jayson Musson
The annual White Columns benefit includes works by Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Julian Martin (donated by Arts Project Australia), Philadelphia Wireman, and Jayson Musson.
Friday, June 22, 2018, 7pm
Pardon My Language (group)
Zidoun Bossuyt Gallery
Luxembourg
Jan 19–Mar 3, 2018
Jayson Musson and Alex Da Corte are among sixteen artists commissioned by Creative Time to create flags representing issues of personal significance that will fly, individually, above Creative Time's headquarters, as well as partner sites nationwide. Pledges of Allegiance was conceived by Alix Browne and developed in collaboration with Cian Browne, Fabienne Stephan, and Opening Ceremony.
Roberta Smith on Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016 at the Whitney Museum in The New York TImes
Longtime friends and first-time collaborators Alex Da Corte and Jayson Musson have created a major new commission for the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Eastern Sports, a vignette-driven update of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is presented as an in-the-round video installation. Organized by Assistant Curator Kate Kraczon.
Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S. 36th St
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sep 19 – Dec 28, 2014
The New Yorker
Artforum Critic's Picks
The Wall Street Journal
The New York Observer
Jayson Musson: Halcyon Days
July 11 - August 17
Salon 94 Bowery
243 Bowery New York, NY 10002
Please join us on Wednesday, April 20 at 7pm
for Problematic Automatic: A Night of ART THOUGHTZ.
Screenings of a curated selection of ART THOUGHTZ, Hennessy Youngman's YouTube musings on the art world and its codes, rituals, quirks and personalities, will be followed by a Q&A with the internet phenom and self-appointed "Row home racounteur."
Fleisher/Ollman is co-hosting and compèring the book release for Jayson Scott Musson's "Too Black For BET" book, published by Free News Press. 6-10pm, Friday the 11th April, at the Mad Decent Mausoleum on Spring Garden Street. It promises to be both a family affair and a wild ride. Fleisher/Ollman will be debuting three new silkscreens from Musson at Art Chicago later in the month, April 25th-28th.