Jason Tako

Dover, PA

2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

For me, painting is a way to capture the fleeting feeling of a place and time. I tend to be a bit nostalgic and I love nature. When I’m in the mountains or on the prairie, I get overwhelmed with the beauty and deep emotions of peace, purity, and mystery I sense there. Through my work I first internalize it, and then visually express it to give the viewer the same feeling of being there.

I have always been fascinated with the American Indians and how they lived, immersed in this beauty when it was still unspoiled. They had the unique privilege of experiencing this on a daily basis before it was taken from them; a tremendous loss as they were removed from their refuge of nature and put somewhere they didn’t want to go.

I somehow deeply connect with this sentiment as I experienced much displacement and difficult loss in my own early years. When I was a child, nature was as much a healing refuge for me as it was for them. In my artwork, I attempt to put them back in the places and times that were taken from them. To not only restore the American Indians to their land, but also to restore nature to itself, and myself in it.