Graffiti artist Tasko captures fleeting moments of mind

In his youth, Jason Lopez – who uses the name Tasko – wore a cape; running around in the night with a rattle can, adding color to the doldrums and seeing his efforts realized in the light of day.

He did it while traveling between parents and struggling with his own identity and place in the world, leaving his mark from Eugene, Oregon, to Redding, California.

When he was in the seventh grade, he did a school project documenting graffiti. His father drove him around town to take pictures of tags and art.

“Little did he know that most of the work was mine,” said Tasko, who is now 35.

At 17, he was suspended from school for having what administrators deemed gang paraphernalia in his locker, including tools for graffiti and his sketchbook.

“It goes along with the misconceptions of tagging,” Tasko said. “It’s a crew, a brotherhood of artists. When they suggested that I was in a gang, my father laughed.”

Since his transformation, he’s getting credit for his artistic expressions that he applies to canvas instead of walls.

He studied at the Art Institute of Portland, but didn’t finish a degree; he simply added to the lessons he learned on the streets and began participating in art events, exhibiting his work, doing art demonstrations and even painting on live models.

His style is flashy, with brightly colored, exaggerated, unrealistic yet humanlike characters.

In “Thought Escape,” a one-toothed, long-legged creature thinks of a piece of cake. The “Breakfast Crew” is a stack of pancakes with a hat of butter, two sunny-side-up eggs, and a slice of bacon with human expressions.

His painting immortalizes the unusual, the curious, the entertaining and the tasty – things like doughnuts, pizza, monsters and boom boxes. His works are done in acrylic paint, spray paint, pens and gouache.

“When I paint, I never have a plan,” he said. “I just go for it, expressing snippets of my mind and the things that inspire me in that particular moment.”

Though initially funny, his imagery is peppered with subtle references to a world gone mad, including fish adapting to unclean waters and a tough-looking gang of owls, left to a viewer to decipher. He also creates fanciful toys and sculptures and does commissions.

Tasko moved to the Spokane area from Portland in September, found a job, and has exhibited his work at the Rocket Bakery and South Perry Pizza. He has sold well and plans on more local shows.

In April, he will be exhibiting in Portland in a show called “Back for the First Time.”