It was a strangely cold, dark, and wet day when I first met Jason Soles at the Life Forms: Art and Gem Festival in Seattle, WA a couple of months ago. I was instantly drawn in by his vividly morbid artwork, and it was impressive by the way he bound notebooks/ journals with handmade sculpture, crow skulls and wolves’ teeth. Among the howling winds and the blackening rain, we started talking about his craft and I learned that he had been sculpting since 1998. He told me that he likes to work with objects that he finds himself, which includes rusty metal, bones, and anything else that catches his eye. Most of his inspiration comes from the natural world, and Poe and Lovecraft’s literature, which was very evident; a row of blackened crow skulls hung from leather chords on his display stand. As most of the festival seemed to be celebrating life in all it’s various colorful forms, Jason Soles served as a stark reminder that death was looming just around the corner.
(These books are legit: They can serve as both decoration and a bleak record of your tormented soul.)
A month later, it was another rain soaked grey sky under which I saw Jason. This time it was at last weekend’s Yule Fest at the Nordic Heritage Museum, and his display was much larger and featured a number of different items such as masks, various skulls and castings of Cthulhu. One devilishly pleasant addition to his table was a full book of his artwork, APOCRYPHA: The Art of Jason Soles. Jason seems to truly be a man after H.R. Giger’s ink stained heart, and I highly recommend getting a copy.
(This is just a fraction of things you can get from Jason Soles, check out the links below to see his full catalog)
You can find Jason Soles in person at this year’s Black Owl Market on Capital Hill in Seattle, December 3rd from 12-6pm. He also works as an assistant teacher for the Pratt Fine Arts Center‘s bronze program in Seattle. Check the artwork of Jason Soles on Facebook and order from his shop here.
