Coming to Fruition is one of PAMM’s newest exhibitions by Miami-based artist Jason Seife. The large-scale canvas and concrete slab paintings with mesmerizing details take over the gallery’s interior, creating a transformative meditative space. This exhibition immerses visitors in a labyrinth of symmetry and raw material, offering an opportunity to reflect on human desecration, community-building, and complicated identities. 

Jason Seife: The Artist  

Jason Seife is a Miami-based artist who has navigated the art world with his distinctive style of intricate and detailed paintings referencing Middle Eastern textile patterns and textures. Through his unique artistic approach, he gained popularity and recognition by collaborating with some of the biggest names in music and designing album artwork, jewelry, and merchandise. Jason has re-centered his focus on his paintings by debuting solo exhibitions worldwide. Through his use of cultural motifs, he has engaged in conversations about heritage and identity. 

Jason Seife: Coming to Fruition 

This show comprises custom wallpaper, triptychs, and a large-scale canvas, all tailored specifically for the gallery space. The triptychs illustrate his approach to transforming the process into the product, showcasing the evolution of his paintings—starting from the initial stages with minimal paint on concrete and culminating in intricately detailed finished pieces. The spotlight of this show, the large-scale canvas, emphasizes the finished product, captivating visitors with its attention to detail and symmetry. 

As the son of immigrants, Cuban and Syrian, Jason draws inspiration from his background. The artworks predominantly reference Persian carpets and traditional Islamic art, while exposing the concrete within the triptychs. As Seife explains, “… Places like Syria and Cuba, both countries whose history kind of lies in the walls, you see the natural abstraction that happens with some of these walls.” This recalls a shared phenomenon in both Cuba and Syria: the presence of beautifully painted buildings reduced by war or neglect of their wood and concrete shells. 

Sit down with Jason Seife and PAMM Assistant Curator Maritza Lacayo as they discuss the exhibition, and dive deeper into the process of making the show—In Conversation: Jason Seife and Maritza Lacayo 

Working within the degradation of the self-made concrete, the motifs and details painted on them provide a contrast to the viewer. The raised, roughened edges prompt questions about how Seife achieves his intricate designs. “There’s so much going on in these designs, especially on a surface like concrete. I have to have a clear idea of what I’m going to be doing before I actually start on that concrete. That whole process is very much pre-calculated,” Seife reveals. 

The attention to detail in these pieces is astounding, each being designed on concrete and painted in with brushes as thin as a pen point, which creates a therapeutic sense for the artist as well. “I feel like the work is always very therapeutic.” Seife explains, “Sometimes people see the amount of detail in there, ‘oh you must be so patient or you must be such a Zen person’ […] and I’m really not, but for this type of work I do have that.” 

Through Coming to Fruition, Seife delves into materials, his own creative process, and his culture, fostering dialogues of heritage and identity within the exhibition space through his artworks.  

Plan your visit to view Jason Seife: Coming to Fruition until May 2024.