Profile of jasonpaint.com

where I come from...

Where should I begin? My name is Jason Amster. I've loved looking at and making art longer than I can remember. I don't know what it is, but recording a place, thing, or an idea within the confines of the canvas has always been magnetic for me. Maybe it's because no matter what the subject, the artist is saying, "I saw this! I thought this!" Whatever is happening off of the canvas, within the canvas something focused and loved has been created.


photograph 2011. Keiko Tanaka

I grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I never appreciated how lucky I was to live with such easy access to all kinds of art--The Cleveland Museum of Art, where I took classes as a child and worked part-time as a guard in college; Murray Hill, thank you Corbo's for the best cannolis, pepperoni bread, and lemon-ice!; The Cleveland Orchestra; The Flats; Lake View Cemetery; Amster's Bagels, where the mink and the fox bought their bagels and lox; Cain Park; the beautiful architecture everywhere!--until I moved away.

photograph 2011. Jason Amster

aside from painting...

Outside of painting I have several other loves and interests. I have always liked making tomato sauce pasta and have been perfecting my pizza recipe--almost got it! I still can't make Grandma's Paprika Potatoes like I remember them tasting. Recently I've discovered macarons and won't have peace until I can get the damn foot to appear! I love reading, especially American literature: Melville, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Salinger, Bukowski, Helprin, and Eco (O.K. he's Italian). I also play the guitar, mostly The Beatles and Hendrix.

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