Jared Packard’s practice straddles studio-based artmaking and curatorial
work. His paintings and installations are comprised of raw canvas and
collaging techniques, including grommets and sewing, which act as masks and
bandages that offer guarded glimpses into vulnerability and brokenness. Drawing
from personal experiences of addiction and being HIV-positive, Packard’s
paintings embrace stigma and flaw as poetic modes of constructing self to examine the politics of performing identity. As a curator, Packard centers emerging and underrepresented artists with an emphasis on creative strategies that interrogate prevailing cultural narratives, established power hierarchies, and under-considered material histories.
Jared Packard (b. 1989) is an artist and curator who has held positions at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL, and International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. Packard completed his BA at Clark University and his MFA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has curated the National Biennial exhibition Assembly 2024: Horizon Scanning, Museum of Contemporary Art, Arlington VA; Opulence: Performative Wealth and the Failed American Dream, Bemis Center, Omaha; the NEA-funded, multi-site public art project, unLOCK: Merging Art and Industry, Lockport, IL; the nationally traveling exhibition, ReTooled: Highlights from the Hechinger Collection; and (Re)Flex Space, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL. He has shown at the Salina Art Center, Salina KS; Project Project, Omaha, NE; ADDS DONNA, Chicago, IL; Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL; Centre International d’Art Contemporain, Pont-Aven, France; Hillyer Art Space, Washington, D.C.
Jared Packard (b. 1989) is an artist and curator who has held positions at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL, and International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. Packard completed his BA at Clark University and his MFA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has curated the National Biennial exhibition Assembly 2024: Horizon Scanning, Museum of Contemporary Art, Arlington VA; Opulence: Performative Wealth and the Failed American Dream, Bemis Center, Omaha; the NEA-funded, multi-site public art project, unLOCK: Merging Art and Industry, Lockport, IL; the nationally traveling exhibition, ReTooled: Highlights from the Hechinger Collection; and (Re)Flex Space, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL. He has shown at the Salina Art Center, Salina KS; Project Project, Omaha, NE; ADDS DONNA, Chicago, IL; Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL; Centre International d’Art Contemporain, Pont-Aven, France; Hillyer Art Space, Washington, D.C.