Jason Villegas was a part of the traveling group exhibition Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, curated by Rita Gonzales, Howard Fox, and Chen Noriega. Beginning at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2008, the exhibit toured for two years including renowned spaces such as, the Tamayo Museum in Mexico City, El Museo del Barrio in New York City, the Phoenix Art Museum (PAM) in Arizona, Museo de Arte de Zappopan in Guadalajara, and the Museo Alameda in San Antonio. His selected work "Celestial Situation" (2006) featured a wall mural of painting and drawing depicting planetary spheres of cosmic clutter involving a video projection of animated 2D artworks onto a drawing of compressed entertainment electronics and media. The animation reveals a consumption cosmology of anuses, amorphous beasts, and a rotund man watching television.

EDUCATION

MFA, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of Art, 2007
BFA, University of Houston, 2003

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 — Don’t Stop Me Now, Front Gallery, Houston, TX
2022 — Who I Was & Want To Be, The Ramp Gallery at SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2014 — Mineral Spirit, Art League Houston, Houston, TX
2009 — Perspectives: 167, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
2009 — Botched Simulacrum, McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
2008 — Hunter Gatherer, Receiver Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 — Cosmic Slut, Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 — Impish Animal, Okay Mountain, Austin, TX
2006 — Forever Developing Shrine, Plush Gallery, Dallas, TX
2006 — Repressed Burial Fantasy, Okay Mountain, Austin, TX
2005 — Ultrabastard: Marketing Seminar, Cactus Bra Space, San Antonio, TX
2005 — Absolute Destiny Apocalypse, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, TX
2005 — Growth Hormone Mutation Make-Over, Plush Gallery, Dallas, TX
2004 — Romantic Poverty & Hunger Pains, Montgomery College, Conroe, TX

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026 — Glazed & Confused, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2026 — Field Notes, California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, Davis, CA
2026 — Psyops & Photo Ops, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2025 — Santa Monica 100th Anniversary Queer Exhibition, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
2025 — HUNGRY: A Pride Show, Rosebud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 — Pet Portraits, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Cafe), San Francisco, CA
2022 — Paper Chase, Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX
2022 — Texas Collects: Carter/Wynne Family Collection, Site 131, Dallas, TX
2021 — Dissolution, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
2021 — Omniscient: Queer Documentation in an Image Culture, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, NY
2017 — The Alchemical Trace, Sanitary Tortilla Factory, Albuquerque, NM
2015 — Gently Fried, Mexican American Cultural Center, Austin, TX
2014 — Flatland, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, TX
2011 — Queer States, Visual Arts Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
2011 — Region: Western Hemisphere, Tijuana Consulate, Permanent Exhibition, Mexico
2010 — Emerging Artist Fellowship 10, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
2010 — Global National, Exit Art, New York, NY
2010 — Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
2009 — Apariciones Fantasmales, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico
2009 — Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2009 — Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, Alameda Museum, San Antonio, TX
2008 — Apariciones Fantasmales, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2008 — Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
2007 — Eyes Wide Open, El Museo del Barrio at the Armory, New York, NY
2007 — The Dams 2 / Las Represas, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Puerto Rico
2005 — Young Latino Artists #10, Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX
2005 — Artadia Houston, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
2004 — New American Talent #19, Arthouse, Austin, TX

COLLECTIONS

El Museo del Barrio, Permanent Collection
Tijuana Consulate, Permanent Collection
Old Jail Art Center, Permanent Collection
The Columbus Museum, Permanent Collection
Jean Pigozzi Collection
Carter/Wynne Family Collection
Chaney Family Collection

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

2019 — Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Artist Fellowship
2010 — Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Workspace Studio
2010 — Socrates Sculpture Park, Emerging Artist Fellowship
2007 — Vermont Studio Center, Nadine Goldsmith Fellowship
2004 — Artadia Houston, Grant Finalist

SELECTED PRESS & PUBLICATIONS

2023 — “Jason Villegas: Don't Stop Me Now.” Glasstire.
2023 — “Top 5: November 16, 2023.” Glasstire.
2022 — Flores, Rebeca. “Freedom of Being Who You Are: A Ramp Gallery Interview with Jason Villegas.”
2020 — Jackson, Kyle. “Bear Watch: Jason Villegas.” Bear World Magazine.
2020 — “60 Seconds with Jason Villegas.” The Columbus Museum.
2014 — Davenport, Bill. “Salon Style.” Glasstire.
2011 — “Art Imitates Life.” Boro Magazine.
2009 — Perspectives: 167, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, exhibition catalogue, TX
2009 — Britt, Douglas. “Jason Villegas Revels in the Art of Consumerism.” Houston Chronicle.
2009 — Groover, D.L. “Perspectives 167: Jason Villegas.” Houston Press.
2008 — Fox, Howard, & Gonzalez. “Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement.” LACMA.
2008 — Gurza, Agustin. “Chicano Art, Beyond Rebellion.” Los Angeles Times.
2008 — Tumlir, Jan. “Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement.” Artforum.
2007 — Mitchell, Charles Dee. “Jason Villegas at Dallas.” Art in America.
2006 — Weaver, Cherie. “Okay Mountain: Jason Villegas.” Cantanker Magazine.
2005 — van Ryzin, Jeanne. “An Exhibition of Latino Art—Whatever That May Be.” Austin American-Statesman.
2004 — New American Talent: The Nineteenth Exhibition. Arthouse exhibition catalogue. curated by Jerry Saltz