Jason Mena

Born in 1974 in New York (USA)
Lives and works between Puerto Rico and Mexico City (Mexico)

Jason Mena is an interdisciplinary artist examining patterns and contradictions in a social formation, focusing mainly on the informal sector, its broad economic structure, and its prevalence and diversity in all social classes. He received a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño (EAPD) in Puerto Rico and attended Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts (Bard College MFA Program) in New York, earning his Master's degree from the School of Visual Arts (SVA). His work has been exhibited individually and as part of collectives in venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC) in Costa Rica; Modern Art Museum (MAM) in the Dominican Republic; Unicorn Centre for Art in Beijing; National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) in Argentina; Hessel Museum of Art in New York; Ex Teresa Arte Actual and Carrillo Gil Contemporary Art Museum (MACG) in Mexico City; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in California; National Center for Contemporary Arts (NCCA) in Moscow; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams; Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) and the 2nd and 3rd editions of The San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial, among others.

Jason Mena has submitted a video for KB17 called Fault Line as well as a series of photographs entitled Failed States. Fault Line is a drawing in motion; a mark that delineates geographies, that conforms and forms, but also one that represents occupation and rupture. In a symbolic gesture, a continuous line is drawn with chalk marking the perimeter of Unidad Habitacional Nonoalco-Tlatelolco. Here, chalk—a porous material frequently employed for didactic purposes—represents and traces a jagged and rough historic route that paradoxically disrupts the linear conception of history. Failed States, a commentary on the G-7 group of industrialized nations, is a photographic documentation of an action, where the body is employed as a geopolitical metaphor ultimately subdued to its immediate context.