Episode 102: Jason Hoelscher

Kevin Kirkwood is joined by Jason Hoelscher, a painter, writer, and professor whose work explores the dynamics of attention, perception, and visual information. Hoelscher’s practice sits at the intersection of art, philosophy, and information. His book Art as Information Ecology (Duke University Press, 2021) draws on aesthetic philosophy and information theory to reframe art as a living, complex system rather than a fixed object. His work has been exhibited across the U.S. and internationally, including large-scale public installations in airports and other shared spaces. He has written for ARTnews and The Wall Street Journal, and serves as a professor and gallery director at Georgia Southern University. In this episode, Kevin and Jason trace the arc of a practice that moves fluidly between the studio, the page, and the public sphere. They discuss how painting led Jason toward philosophy, why information overload is as much an aesthetic problem as a cultural one, and what it means to create work that doesn’t just fill space but actively shapes how it’s experienced. Learn more: jason-hoelscher.com | @jason_hoelscher_studio Follow the host: kevin-kirkwood.com | @kevinwillpaint | @strandpodcast Listen to The Strand on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and Amazon.