Cv/bio | Jared Haviland Contemporary Art

BIOGRAPHY

Jared Haviland is a contemporary artist based in Tacoma, Washington.

Born on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and raised in Oak Harbor, Washington, Haviland spent much of his childhood exploring the forests and shorelines of the Pacific Northwest. Following a move to Tacoma in the late 1990s, he was introduced to graffiti culture, an experience that would shape the trajectory of his creative life. What began as an obsession with lettering evolved into a decades-long commitment to artistic development and visual experimentation.

After serving in the Marine Corps and navigating a period of significant personal adversity, Haviland pursued training in welding and fabrication before building a career in industrial manufacturing and design. His work with large-scale fabrication, architectural systems, and computer-aided design expanded his understanding of structure, material, and spatial relationships—disciplines that continue to influence his artistic practice today.

Over time, the lessons of graffiti, fabrication, and design began to converge, leading his work beyond traditional letterforms and toward a more expansive visual language. Drawing from both intuitive mark-making and systematic thinking, Haviland's practice reflects a sustained interest in movement, rhythm, composition, and the relationship between order and freedom.

Working from his Tacoma studio, Haviland creates paintings and sculptures shaped by decades of creative discipline, technical craftsmanship, and spiritual inquiry. His work reflects an ongoing pursuit of meaning through form, offering viewers an opportunity to engage with ideas that exist beyond language alone.

STATEMENT

My work emerges from a long investigation into graffiti letterforms and their underlying structures. After nearly three decades of studying, developing, and deconstructing letters, I became increasingly interested in what remains when language gives way to pure form. What began as an exploration of communication evolved into a search for rhythm, movement, balance, and visual order.

Through a process I call Graffic Extraction, I transform familiar fragments of language into abstract compositions that exist beyond readability. Rather than functioning as words, these forms operate as visual experiences, inviting viewers to engage with relationships of tension and harmony, structure and freedom, intuition and control. Influenced by my background in fabrication, industrial design, and construction, the work is informed by both systematic thinking and improvisation, combining disciplined frameworks with spontaneous discovery.

Beneath the formal qualities of the work is a deeper spiritual pursuit. I view the creative process as an act of exploration—an attempt to uncover patterns, relationships, and truths that often exist beneath the surface of everyday experience.

Every person carries an inner life that is largely unseen by others. My hope is that the work contributes something meaningful to that experience. Through movement, rhythm, and color, I seek to create work that offers a sense of hope, inspiration, and peace—work that is not only seen, but felt. While the meaning of each piece ultimately belongs to the viewer, it is my desire that the work serves as a reminder that beauty, order, and wonder can still be discovered amidst the complexity of human experience.