Jason Ebeyer
Jason Ebeyer is a 3D artist and visual designer. His hyper real aesthetic creates a world of hyper sexual beings who are unashamed of their sexuality and experiences. His work has been featured in a number of publications including i-D and Vice’s Creators Project. We chat to him about his inspirations and aspirations.
To start off with can you describe yourself in three words?
Quiet, Ambitious and Introverted.
How would you describe your art and style?
I’d describe my art style as erotic art for the digital landscape.
Why do you do what you do?
I started creating 3D art as a way to take my mind off boring assignments whilst I was in uni studying Graphic Design.
From there it really just ballooned into this amazing medium for me to explore and experiment with different ideas and feelings.
I think it is almost like therapy in a way, to be able to create these scenes and images exactly how I envision them with only my own creativity to hold me back.
Forming ideas and creating works of art require time and energy, what is your creative process and how do you keep yourself inspired?
I’m constantly getting inspired. I don’t really have a specific place I go to look for inspiration, usually it’ll just find me when I least expect it. In terms of creative process I’m a little all over the place. Sometimes I’ll sketch out an idea on my iPad or in a notebook and other times I’ll just jump right into the programs and begin creating.
Your works include sex and erotica and you present your work unashamedly. You have mentioned it’s about being proud and confident with sexuality as a whole. What then do you think about censorship? Do you think censorship exists because people aren’t confident with their sexuality?
Personally I think people are more confident with their sexuality now more than ever, and this is opening up the way for some great conversations and progress within the world. I can 100% understand censorship to a certain degree. I wouldn’t show my work to a child for example. But I do have an issue with the way certain platforms and groups use censorship to shame people, there is nothing shameful about nudity.
You hold the belief that everybody, regardless of gender, has a masculine and feminine side to their character and have featured both sides in your work to show these different aspects of your personality and mind. As you continue to create works, how has your art changed you personally?
I wouldn’t really say it has changed me, but it has certainly given me an outlet to explore these different sides and different ideas. I’m not sure how they would have manifested themselves had I not taken up art making. I’m pretty fortunate to have also managed to find and build up a community of people who feel the same way.
What is your favourite work?
This is really tricky, I feel like the latest thing I make is always my favourite. But I do have a soft spot for a piece I made not to long ago called “Concrete Palace”. It’s an image of a giant woman and a giant robotic scorpion set within a cement slum.
You produce a variety of outputs graphic design in the form of t-shirts, textiles, fine art prints and video. Why have you chosen to have your work represented in various forms and how do you prefer your work to be viewed?
I put my work across so many different forms of media so I could make it more accessible for my audience. In an ideal world though I’d love my work to be primarily viewed as physical prints. Because my work is created in a digital program I always get really excited seeing it printed and framed in the real world.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
There has been so many great responses to my work and also lots of negative also. Probably some of the most memorable have been when people try to recreate my work using make up. I love seeing stuff like that.
You have made videos for Troye Sivan and Bebe Rexha and undoubtedly will have reached an even larger audience for your work. How has that affected you and does it influence the way you produce or share your work?
Yeah working with Troye was great. The “Bloom” video was my first ‘worldwide’ project I guess you could say and that opened my work up to so many new people which was amazing. At first I was really anxious about working on projects which would get so much attention because I knew I’d be opening myself and my work to the world, which was a little daunting. But there was an overwhelming amount of support and positivity which far out weighed any negative comments. The only real way that it has affected how I share my work is now I’m much more cautious with cropping and censoring certain elements of my work for Instagram and save all my full uncensored work for my own website or Twitter, where the censorship rules are a little more chill.
Do you have any major projects/works for the future?
I’m currently working on a new music video at the moment which I’m pretty excited about. Looking towards the future, I’m planning and putting together some work for a solo exhibition which I’d love to have ready within the next 12 months. As far as future projects go, I have a few things which are being thrown around at the moment so we will see what comes of that. I’m just really grateful for all the opportunities which I’ve been offered and worked for, and I just take it as it comes.
If you would like to own your own piece of Jason you can visit his shop here.
Credits
Intro by Georgia Quinn
Questions by Stella Nguyen
