Local artist signs with NYC manager
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
FORT FAIRFIELD — Jason Grass, a local artist who works in a variety of mediums, including photography, painting and sculpture, is now being represented by a New York City agent to market his creations.
Society is full of color, like a box of crayons. In a box of crayons all colors live in harmony and move around at random. The whites live with blacks, yellows, reds, greens and any other color that you can imagine. 
The only thing that dictates which colors live together are the size of the “Neighborhood” or box. No color hates another — in fact, some mix and create bright, beautiful colors. Jason Grass believes in the one land mass called Pangea — that all nations were all joined at one time, but continental drift pulled us apart. If we were one land mass, we were one nation and one race/color. Grass decided to depict this by showing different colors of hands overlapping showing oneness. He’s also have been trying to make his work more personal and relatable because, as Grass noted, “racism is a huge thing for me because of my diverse heritage.”
Earlier this year, the artist had looked into being managed by the Agora Gallery in New York. That fell through, but as luck would have it, Grass found another manager interested in representing him.
“The Agora deal didn’t work out but things did take a turn for the better. I am now currently managed by Artisan Direct in New York. In just the few short months that I have been with Jayson Samuel and his team, life has taken a great turn,” said Grass.
Grass said being managed by Samuel will mean access into areas he might not of even considered for himself.
“Jayson has already gotten me into three shows next year. They are fine art festivals that have over 100 artists displaying their works. The only stipulation is that you can only show fine art, which is what my work is,” he said.
These shows will be held in New York City and Chicago next summer and in Miami in December.
“Jayson has also gotten me into the Artist Showcase, which is a directory of artists from around the world, with images of their work, which includes information about my work and myself. This will be sent to 2,000 galleries to introduce the venues to artists and let them contact us about our work,” said Grass, adding, “It’s like submitting a lot of portfolios of art to all the same galleries at once.”
Samuel is also working to add Grass to a website to highlight his work.
“Once completed, Jayson will send information to galleries that he determines my work will fit best in. He has a database of over 10,000 galleries that he will then search through and find the ones that he will introduce my work to,” said Grass.
Grass said Samuel has indicated there are currently between 1,000 and 1,500 locations worldwide that his work will fit into.
“Jayson has already been talking to some people in the art world that would like to be introduced to more of my work and myself,” Grass said.
After everything fell through for his fund-raising earlier this year (funds would have been used in his pursuit to get Agora to represent him), Grass decided he liked the idea of having an agent/manager.
“So I hit up Google and searched for information on agencies. I found Artisan Direct and did some research on them. I liked what I saw and contacted Jayson and asked for information. When he sent it, he noticed that my e-mail went through my website and started digging around,” he said.
According to Grass, Samuel was impressed and wanted to know more about Grass and his work.
“Jayson instantly liked what he saw and within two minutes, I had another e-mail that said, ‘The work is really good. Would love to work with you,’” said Grass.
By the next day, Grass was talking a deal.
“We talked the next morning on the phone and worked out some details. I contacted 16 of his current artists that he manages and no one had anything bad to say,” said Grass, noting that was back in April. “The past two months have been nothing but progress.”
Seeing a positive direction with an agency this fast is not the norm, said Grass.
“Most agencies tell you to expect a year for things to make the turn, but Jayson and his team have been working really hard. I can see things going further with them than maybe I could have done on my own,” said Grass.
For more information on Grass and his creations, visit www.JasonGrass.com.
