”Jason Freeny has been one of the most influential artists of the 21st century.” Lifestyle Asia

Jason is an Internationally award-winning artist celebrated for captivating audiences worldwide with his craft and thought-provoking works. With a unique blend of sculpture and illustration, Freeny’s artistry revolves around object irony as well as dissecting and revealing the workings of pop culture characters and iconography, offering a whimsical and insightful perspective.

Jason was born in 1970, on the border of Washington DC in Silver Spring, Maryland, and grew up with two older sisters. His parents, both creatives and hippies, divorced when he was 2 years old. A tragic incident involving his mother being severely burned in a fire when he was 6, had a traumatic impact and affected much of Jason’s adolescent years.

After his father, who was a sculptor, painter, and fine art professor at the University of Maryland, passed away in 1984, Jason, his sisters, and mother moved to the Middletown Valley in northwest Maryland, where he attended high school. Jason was accepted to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he excelled in prototyping and model building while studying Industrial Design.

After leaving college in the early 90’s, he began working in lower Manhattan at a Tribeca based mural and design studio before finding his artistic footing while working with MTVNetworks, designing props, stage sets and special event spaces for MTV and Viacom’s family of cable channels.

During this time, Freeny's artistic talents also extended to editorial illustration, with his work featured in several publications, including a recurring editorial gig with Penthouse magazine and the cover of Time Out New York.

In 2002, Jason got his first taste of toys as an art form working at a NJ-based toy design studio in a yearlong stint as a 'toy inventor' that ultimately did not yield the expected results.

Jason went full time as an artist in 2006, and gained significant attention in 2007 after creating the illustration "Pneumatic Anatomica," depicting the inner anatomical workings of a balloon dog. Jason followed this with a series of similar illustrations exposing the anatomy of items such as a Rubber Duck, Gingerbread Man, and several well-known toy characters. Subsequently, Jason returned to his roots and began creating character dissection sculptures using his industrial design prototyping techniques. Jason’s early illustrations and his first produced toy, a clear plastic anatomical Gummi Bear, inspired by medical models, set a tone in the designer toy genre that continues to be mimicked by artists and designers today.

In 2013, he teamed up with Singapore-based Mightyjaxx to produce their first collaboration "Skull Bomb" and has since produced over 400 designer toys. His art has gained recognition and has been featured in galleries, museums, and exhibitions on an international level. Jason's unique talent and innovative approach have garnered attention from art enthusiasts, pop culture aficionados, and toy collectors worldwide. He continues to push boundaries, influence designers, and challenge perceptions through his art, leaving a lasting impact on the art world and popular culture as a whole.

Jason teaches Toy Production at the School Of Visual Arts in New York City and continues to create new designs and toys in his Long Island, NY home.