Jasmine Raskas first picked up a paint brush in high school but didn't take her skills seriously until 2016 and her first exhibition.
"I had been making art my whole life and always believed I would retire as an artist, or get to it more seriously at some later point in life," Raskas says. "It all started as just an experiment, but then once I got started I couldn't stop, and the art just kept getting bigger and more complex. At first, I had no idea what it would mean for me to 'be an artist,' but I have certainly learned a lot since then and have come to appreciate the wild ride it will forever be."
Fast forward to 2023, when Raskas had one of her pieces from her latest collection Eternal Jungle installed at City Museum.
Eternal Jungle was on display at the Center of Creative Arts late last year and was an exhibit filled with bright colors, different textures and media. Raskas' sculptures emulate creatures and figures from out of this world, giving reference to her exploration in the microscopic universes. Her goal was to investigate feelings of awe, wonder and ethereal delight. Raskas wanted it to feel strange yet familiar and create an experience of otherworldly desires through as many of the senses as she could.
Provoking a reaction is part of the point. One of Raskas' goals is to make St. Louis weird through her artwork.
And by "weird" she means "wonderful and unique in the best kind of way."
"Weird to me means creating a safe place for all humans to thrive," she says. "A place for self-expression, acceptance, inclusion and respect. A weird and wonderful St. Louis would support art, experimentation, non-commercial acts of creativity and interdisciplinary projects, and hopefully become an infrastructure or a hub for the types of communities that are putting in the work to change the world around them."
Raskas says she intends for her art to bring people back in touch with themselves and find the extraterrestrial spirit within them.
"To me, being an artist is not about making objects," Raskas says. "At its core, it is more about building up social spaces for empowerment, play and exploration — lighting up a fire for the energy of what's possible. I believe our city could become the next Denver or Austin or whatever exciting spot on the map we want to create, but we can't do that without first taking a look at the social injustice that permeates throughout our history and present policy."
Raskas says her work is purposefully ambiguous yet simultaneously representational of the natural world, with references to both the microscopic and macroscopic universes, as well as spiritual, metaphysical dreams.
"I'm fascinated by the mathematical rules that govern the emergence of physical structures and information-based systems," Raskas says. "I'm obsessed with how patterns can be found on multiple scales, like the same repeating pattern. For example, the same branching patterns are found in the distribution of rivers, networks of neurons, a strike of lightning and the growth of a tree."
Raskas' art explores sentience and organic growth in the context of world-building through different media such as paint, sculptures and installations. The latter two are newer to Raskas.
She developed a love for sculpture during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increase in her downtime allowed her to explore her artistic abilities.
"COVID was a really hard moment for me, because I had two solo shows lined up," she says. "At the time, my artwork was paintings, and both of the shows were completely canceled. That's when I started sculpting. I'd been wanting to start sculpting for a long time, but I had it on hold because I knew I needed to make a bunch of not structurally sound pieces to learn what I was doing."
Now that she knows how to create larger, stable sculptures, Raskas wants to experiment with making them heavier and climbable. She also plans to keep dabbling in the painting realm.
"My paintings are usually described as between abstract and surreal," she says. "I would identify as being within the category of visionary art just because of the transcendent vibe, but I don't know if I fit into that either."
Raskas, who is originally from St. Louis, says she was the kind of kid who would build elaborate forts, make stick structures in the backyard and would redesign and reconfigure her toys.
"I colored on every surface and broke things into pieces to rearrange them in new ways," she says. "I have always had a love for playing with patterns and the experimental aspects of making work. I discovered painting in a high school art class and was drawn to it for its meditative qualities. Painting was the first area of art I explored professionally, but now I see myself as more of a 'world builder.'"
Her work has been shown across the region in almost 50 shows. She has received awards from the Luminary and the St. Louis Regional Art Commission and has graduated from RAC's Teaching Artist Institute. Raskas previously worked as the lead art facilitator at the nonprofit studio Artists First and remains involved with community-based and inclusion-oriented art initiatives.
Raskas is a student at Webster University pursuing a master's degree in counseling and clinical mental health. In the future, she hopes to combine her artistic practice with mental health.
Looking back at what she's accomplished so far, Raskas feels blessed to have come full circle.
"I feel like my work has been in almost all the galleries I used to visit and hang out at when I was younger, so that's pretty cool," she says. "I'm also getting to know all these other artists and people, and seeing what they're doing. I've become more involved within the whole creative industry where I can meet and support other artists. I love supporting other people; it's really important to me."
To view more of Raskas artwork or to keep tabs on her next show, visit jasmineraskas.com or follow her on Instagram @unus_mundus_art.
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