Epistrophic Arts

Visual Storytelling With Soul

Welcome to Epistrophic Arts

Named after Thelonious Monk's Epistrophy—a jazz standard whose title suggests "returning with new knowledge" or "forward-thinking"—Epistrophic Arts is where rhythm meets canvas, and every face tells a story.

I'm Jason Hampton, a self-taught visual artist whose work lives at the intersection of music and portraiture. Jazz, blues, folk traditions, and African musical forms pulse through everything I create. Like improvisation in jazz, my portraits capture spontaneous moments of humanity—candid, alive, and full of narrative.

What I Paint:

The human face. The human figure. The unguarded expression. The gesture that reveals character. I'm drawn to portraits that feel like they're mid-conversation, mid-thought, mid-song. My work honors the stories people carry in their eyes, their posture, their presence.

My Philosophy:

Great art, like great music, requires listening. I observe. I respond. I interpret. Whether I'm painting commissioned portraits, leading workshops, or collaborating on community murals, I approach every project as a creative dialogue—honoring what came before while pushing toward something new.

That's the spirit of epistrophy: always returning, always moving forward.