Jason Villegas is a visual artist born in Houston, TX in 1977, where he earned a BFA and moved to the North East to receive a Master’s of Fine Art at Rutger’s University. He spent a decade living in NYC where he exhibited at Exit Art, El Museo del Barrio, Kathleen Cullen Gallery, Swing Space, Art in Odd Places, Socrates Sculpture Park, and The Leslie Lohman Museum of Queer Art where he was also a fellow. He also participated in residencies at The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Vermont Studio Center. Villegas has exhibited across the states & internationally including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Phoenix Art Museum, and in Mexico City at El Museo de Ruffino Tamayo.

Villegas decided to move across the country when the pandemic hit NYC, spending a few transitionary years living in Oakland and San Francisco where he grew his skills in the art service and museum realms. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. His work celebrates queer and gay bear/chub subcultures while utilizing subversive humor and satire. Sexuality, nature, cosmology, consumerism, pop culture, mutation, and anthropomorphism combine in colorful scenarios involving rotund hybrid figures, desire, and angst. Villegas’ work is multidisciplinary, including ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing, fabric collage, and installations.