Jayson Scott Musson is an artist who lives and works in

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He was born in

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, NY.

Early life

In an interview in Nat. Brut magazine, Musson said that he grew up in

Spring Valley, New York Spring Valley is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the town of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo and Clarkstown, New York, Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is ...

, about 25 minutes from New York City. He stated that he was "pretty much a very quiet kid" who "didn’t care too much for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

or whatever, just drawing."

Education

Musson earned a BFA degree in photography from the University of the Arts in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 2011, he completed an MFA in painting from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Music

Musson is an original member of the Philadelphian rap group Plastic Little, formed during the summer of 2001. A track from the group, "Miller Time", was sampled by

Baauer Harry Bauer Rodrigues (born April 30, 1989), known professionally as Baauer, is an American record producer and DJ, best known for his double platinum song "Harlem Shake (song), Harlem Shake". He has produced varied dance music from the age of 13 ...

in his 2012 song " Harlem Shake". The Baauer track went

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

in the United States and inspired a viral internet trend. Along with Plastic Little, Musson performed with British producer

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

, as well as collaborated with a number of notable Philadelphian acts including

Spank Rock Naeem Juwan Hanks, better known by his stage name Spank Rock, is an American rapper and songwriter from Baltimore. He rose to fame with his 2006 album '' YoYoYoYoYo'', which was produced by former group member Alex Epton ( XXXChange). A harbinge ...

and

Amanda Blank Amanda Blank (born Amanda Mallory McGrath; March 10, 1983) is an American singer, rapper and member of the performance art band Sweatheart based in Philadelphia. Early life Amanda Blank was born in Germantown, a neighborhood in northwest Phila ...

Video performance

In 2010, Musson created the character of Hennessy Youngman, which subsequently became an Internet phenomenon through the popularity of the "Art Thoughtz" video series. Musson publicly divides his persona with the character's by referring to Youngman as his "cousin". Musson's "ART THOUGHTZ" series is distributed internationally by

Electronic Arts Intermix Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit arts organization that is a resource for video and media art. An advocate of media art and artists since 1971, EAI's core program is the distribution and preservation of a colle ...

Solo exhibitions

* 2002: ''Too Black for BET'', Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA * 2006: ''Too Black for BET, Episode II: The Black Boy George'', Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA * 2008: ''Too Black For BET'', Dazed & Confused Magazine Gallery, London, England * 2011: ''Hennessy Youngman & Nathaniel Snerpus Present: The Grand Manner'', Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA * 2011: ''Neoteny: The Hard Sell'', Marginal Utility Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, * 2012: ''A True Fiend's Weight'', Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA * 2012: ''Halcyon Days'', Salon 94, New York, NY * 2016: ''The Truth in the Song'', Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA * 2022: ''His History of Art'', The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musson, Jayson 21st-century African-American people African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists Artists from Philadelphia Artists from the Bronx Living people University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni Year of birth missing (living people)