PAMM Pérez Art Museum

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to present Jason Seife: Coming to Fruition opening May 18, 2023. Featuring all new site-specific works including a custom wallpaper, triptychs, and a large-scale canvas, Coming to Fruition is Seife’s first solo exhibition in the United States.

“Jason was born and raised in Miami and continues to live and work here. As Miami’s flagship institution, we want the local art ecosystem to flourish and support our local artists,” said PAMM Assistant Curator Maritza Lacayo. “Jason’s very first museum visit was to Miami Art Museum, PAMM’s predecessor, and it gave him the idea that he could become an artist and exhibit his work at a museum. This exhibition is very much a full circle moment for Jason and means the world to me, as a born-and-bred Miamian as well.”

Seife, like many Miami residents, is the son of immigrants—in his case of Cuban and Syrian descent. His oeuvre centers on his Middle Eastern heritage, referencing Persian carpets and the intricate details found in mosques and traditional Islamic art. He digitally designs his carpet-inspired compositions, mirroring weavers’ practice of associating patterns or colors with specific locations and communities. Seife subsequently hand-paints these intricate patterns onto a concrete slab or canvas.

For Coming to Fruition, Seife presents his elaborate process in media res––amid the action. The effect created by this site-specific exhibition is one in which the boundary between artistic process and finished product is blurred. The process-as-product dynamic is evident in two triptychs that reveal the progression of his paintings—from initial stages and minimal paint on the concrete to intricately painted finished product.

Accompanied by an additional finished painting on canvas, the triptychs are surrounded by labyrinthine wood frames which appear to seep out of the paintings and onto the walls, as if taking over the gallery’s interior. The frames recall elaborately carved mosque ornamentation and have been made specifically for this exhibition and gallery space. The overall effect of wooden frames and paintings on the concrete walls recalls a phenomenon common to both Cuba and Syria: beautifully painted buildings that have been reduced by war or neglect to their wood and concrete shells. The site-specificity of Coming to Fruition allows Seife to present a secular sanctuary wherein the visitor can meditate on human desecration,
community-building, and complicated identities.

“Jason Seife’s work and facility with old and new technology to make art objects is remarkable. While finding inspiration in art from antiquity, he is also incredibly versed in the art of our time, specifically in new digital advancements in technology, including NFT’s and the burgeoning space of Web3. Also evident of his versatility and a reflection of his timeliness, he has been a collaborator with artists from other disciplines,” said PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans. “A true collaboration between artist and curator, Jason and Maritza—two Miamians who visited PAMM growing up—we hope our community can draw
inspiration from their example as well.” Jason Seife: Coming to Fruition is organized by PAMM Assistant Curator Maritza Lacayo.

Ongoing support for PAMM’s project galleries from Knight Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.