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Jason Borders Brings Hypnotic Carved Bones to Screaming Sky Show

Simply stated, “carving bones” may sound like a morbid activity. Yet, there’s both an elegance and hypnotic nature to the work of Jason Borders, an artist who creates intricate patterns and designs on animal skulls by hand. Borders was last featured on HiFructose.com here, and he appeared in Hi-Fructose Vol 40. The artist currently has a solo show at Screaming Sky in Portland, titled “The Art of Jason Borders.” The show kicked off on July 28 and runs through Aug. 22.


Simply stated, “carving bones” may sound like a morbid activity. Yet, there’s both an elegance and hypnotic nature to the work of Jason Borders, an artist who creates intricate patterns and designs on animal skulls by hand. Borders was last featured on HiFructose.com here, and he appeared in Hi-Fructose Vol 40. The artist currently has a solo show at Screaming Sky in Portland, titled “The Art of Jason Borders.” The show kicked off on July 28 and runs through Aug. 22.




Borders touches on the broader themes of life and death in his artist statement: “My belief is that, as painful as it can be, looking directly at death helps you to live your life with intent and purpose. In this light, the work I do delves into a place where the lines between life, death, fantasy and reality are blurred.”




The artist typically uses a Dremel to create his designs, meticulously working on the bones in a style that is similar to the use of a tattoo machine. At times, the artist will focus on a single part of a skull, like jawbones, overlapping them to create a fresh structure. Borders graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design in 2009, and he’s currently based in Portland. You can find the artist’s Instagram here.

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