Jared C. Deery Lives and works in NYC and has exhibited in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Milan and Berlin. He has participated in the Salone del Mobile in Italy and the Saint-Etienne Design Biennale in France. Born in Philadelphia in 1980, Deery moved to New York in 1997 and received his BFA with honors in 2001 from Pratt Institute and his MFA at Hunter College in 2009.
Tell us your story, why did you become an artist?
Both of my parents were artists. Though we moved a lot as I grew up I was taught at a very young age to learn how to appreciate the curiosity, imagination and the self reliance that comes with being an artist. I tried to fight this urge but the desire to create and express my experience in the world soon became a driving force that I decided to face head on. I find the creation and expression of painting is the best way for me to respond to the current challenges of the world and a way to create meaningful and healing beauty for others.
When you create a new work, how do you go about it? What comes first?
I often begin the creation of new works through many fast drawings as a way to access an unconscious part of myself and as a technique to get out of my own way. This searching continues as I prep surfaces and colors, waiting for the work to reveal its self to me. An active form of waiting is important in the first few steps so to help me mine deeper emotions and to develop a strong relationship with the image and its potential meanings. 
What can you tell us about your studio, what makes it special to you and how does it influence the way you work?
I am currently working in an old roll-gate garage that a fellow artist and I built out. This large space helps give a sense of freedom from the confines of space when making and looking at works. A large open space, where things can move or shift around, means that we are never isolated and never work completely independently of each other. This sharing helps steer us clear from any type of navel-gazing and pushes us towards places in our work we may have not found if we were completely alone. 
Is there a work of art in your life that has especially impressed you?
I saw the first works that in a truthful way made in believe in the power of art in Washington DC at a retrospective of Mark Rothko with my mother when I was about 10. I have a strong memory of a fly that landed and would not get off an intense deep red wash of color. Subsequently when traveling as a young student to Italy I had my first case of Stendhal syndrome, coincidently in Florence, as I stood in front of Da Vinci’s “Adoration of the Magi”, an unfinished work. I struck with the power of being able to see directly into his decision making process and was left shaken, crying and paralyzed in the middle of the Uffizi gallery. I still shake thinking of that today.
Reach to the stars: where will you be in 5 years?
In 5 years or so I see myself still painting in New York, and summers in Europe, pushing the Psychology, symbolism, size, and chromatic elements that are currently inside my paintings. I hope to find deeper more meaningful and magical ways to express my experience in this world. 
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