Jason Tetlak: The Artist Who Paints Loud
When Jason Tetlak touches a wall, the neighborhood changes. His work doesn’t whisper background beauty, it commands attention, ignites conversation, and often challenges complacency. Tetlak is known for murals that incorporate hidden messages. They also use augmented reality. He isn’t just filling space. He’s reshaping how public environments are experienced.
In this conversation on The Contrast Project Lounge, hosts Tracy Rigdon and Jim Alabiso explore Tetlak’s creative mission. They discuss his perspective on Jacksonville’s art scene. They also talk about the grind behind turning public art into both career and catalyst. The conversation reveals an artist who operates with precision. The artist also operates with rebellion. His paintbrush is as much a scalpel as it is a megaphone.
From Digital Design to City Walls
Jason Tetlak started his professional life as a graphic designer, fluent in the digital language of branding and typography. That foundation became the launchpad for his work in public art. His skills translated to large-scale, permanent works. These artworks live on buildings, not screens.
He moved from desktop to ladder without romanticizing the shift. The transition required mastery of new materials, physical endurance, and an entirely different mindset. Painting murals requires technical precision and patience. It also demands a tolerance for the unpredictable, like weather, community politics, and paint that behaves differently under the sun.
Tetlak didn’t tiptoe into the scene. He showed up with a concept, executed it with clarity, and kept showing up. His murals began appearing across Jacksonville, claiming space with intention. Each wall became an opportunity to start a visual conversation grounded in craft, narrative, and strategic disruption.
The Murray Hill Movement
In Murray Hill, a once-overlooked Jacksonville neighborhood, Tetlak’s work helped spark cultural renewal. Over 20 murals now color the district. Each mural contributes to a broader visual identity shaped by community texture. It is not influenced by corporate templates.
Tetlak brought vibrancy to blank concrete. More importantly, he helped establish a sense of creative ownership for residents. Visitors were also included in this sense of ownership. The neighborhood became a gallery with no admission fee. Street corners evolved into landmarks. Formerly defaced walls became anchors of pride.
The artistic transformation also brought measurable change. Foot traffic increased significantly. Vandalism was reduced. There was also a visible uptick in local business engagement. These changes pointed to the deeper value of well-executed public art. The city gained not only aesthetics, but a sense of identity.
Hidden Layers and Digital Doors
Jason Tetlak doesn’t believe art should be passively consumed. He embeds hidden text into his murals, revealed only through red lenses or augmented reality apps. These optical tricks are more than design flourishes; they demand interaction, curiosity, and reexamination.
The use of AR allows Tetlak’s murals to evolve over time. Viewers using their phones can unlock extra content, animations, social messages, and alternative narratives. It’s a collision of analog artistry and digital depth that creates a hybrid experience.
This engagement draws people into a moment. They aren’t just looking, they’re decoding, investigating, and sharing. The murals take on a second life through the devices in their pockets, building momentum through surprise and discovery.
The Job Behind the Art
Creating public murals means managing logistics that few observers consider. Tetlak balances the artistic process with the demands of fundraising, scheduling, materials acquisition, and municipal negotiations. He wears more hats than a street artist ever brags about.
Securing wall space often means navigating a gauntlet of property owners, neighborhood associations, and city officials. Funding isn’t guaranteed, and grant applications require a different kind of discipline. Each project becomes part creative mission and part bureaucratic hustle.
Tetlak admits the work can feel isolating. Jacksonville’s creative community, while growing, remains fragmented. Artists here build in the gaps, often without the infrastructure found in larger arts capitals. It requires stamina, not just vision.
Creativity Grows Through Collaboration
Tetlak values collaboration, not as a trendy slogan but as a structural necessity. Working with other creatives and organizations expands the reach and relevance of his work. Partnerships with public figures, nonprofits, and fellow artists breathe new energy into every project.
His mural for Baker Mayfield, covered by ESPN, showcased how art and sports intersect. His collaboration with comedian Josh Blue added layers of meaning that only emerge when voices blend across disciplines. These projects helped extend his work beyond local impact into national visibility.
Collaboration also keeps things real. Artists support each other through idea exchanges, problem-solving, and mutual promotion. For Tetlak, working together is a way to challenge creative stagnation and build collective momentum.
Words for the Wall-Bound Warriors
Tetlak offers clear advice to aspiring muralists: don’t wait for permission, don’t chase overnight fame, and don’t skip the grind. Success in public art means painting walls for free, knocking on doors, and proving reliability through action.
The path is crowded with setbacks, weather delays, funding gaps, and the mental toll of constant self-promotion. Tetlak pushes forward by keeping his goals aligned with his values: authenticity, impact, and experimentation.
He also encourages artists to explore emerging tools. Whether through AR integrations, typographic illusions, or unexpected formats, staying current means staying curious. Innovation is the ally of sustainability.
The Message Lives Outside the Frame
Tetlak approaches social media as an amplifier, not a destination. His murals gain reach through Instagram and TikTok, but their primary value remains in real-world presence. A post might bring clicks, but the in-person experience builds memory and movement.
He sees his murals as moments of disruption in daily routines. They offer an unexpected visual twist. This twist turns the mundane into the memorable. Photos and shares come later. First comes the visceral punch of color, concept, and curiosity.
The physical permanence of street art resists digital burnout. Long after algorithms bury the post, the mural remains, weathered, weathering, and still speaking.
Claiming Space with Intention
Jason Tetlak’s career exists in the space between art and advocacy, between visual delight and social reflection. He reclaims space with precision and ambition. His murals aren’t just decorative backdrops for selfies, they’re touchstones of urban dialogue.
Tetlak redefines street-level storytelling by hiding messages in plain sight. He merges physical art with digital tools. By showing up again and again, he expands what storytelling can accomplish. He turns walls into ideas, paint into participation, and Jacksonville into a gallery with no roof.
His work isn’t just about color, it’s about seeing more clearly. Those who slow down long enough to look will find a reward. It is a kind of public intimacy rarely found in the digital churn of everyday life.
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