Jason was a force of nature, a child of the earth. During the two years I spent in Bali 1991-93, Jason was part of my larger community of Balinese, Javanese, and foreign friends meeting regularly in the Ubud night market (senggol) for cheap delicious grub and iced beer, sometimes arak (so sad that the senggol was paved over). His libidinous energy and joie de vivre are forever imprinted in my mind. He really lived, and that's an inspiration. I'm not sure why he popped into my head just now, over two decades later (only for me to look him up and find that he's passed), but this latent spark does seem proof of his tremendous vivacity. Best wishes to Jason's soul and to all those who survive him.

I first came across Jason\'s paintings on the Gold Coast, Qld., many years ago. I instantly fell in love with his lively and colorful paintings and was always hoping to see more of his wonderful work.

The strange thing is I have always called Bali home and have just come back after living and painting there for two months. After coming across this site I am sadend to learn of Jason\'s death and wish his family and close friends my deepest sympathy.

It is clear that Jason was a unique and wonderful human being, I only wish that I could have met him in Bali years ago.

I have been touched by Jason and his dreams and I\'m sure he leaves a lasting impression on all who have crossed his path or his work.

I met Jason in 1989 at a funeral burning in Ubud. He was sketching the processions and completely engulfed. Travelling with my friend and a boyfriend I just met -Jason invited us to stay in his house for a short period. We talked till late, drank, hang out at the cafe across the street and Jason did a big painting of me and my boyfriend outside the house - in sarong and all! My friend made a documentary on him. I still love watching it - Jason is painting, smoking and takling at the same time at a high speed- and SO in the present. The 3 of us being only in our twenties felt we had known him our wole life. On our parting Jason whispered in my ear: "You got to marry that guy" referring to my boyfriend I only had known for some months. "I Will" I replied in fun not knowing that I did 4 years later -still together for 20 years now. Thanks for the advice Jason old boy - you have been in our hearts ever since. All our love to the family.

Even after 50 years I remember Jason - his big personality and his amazing mural at the White Hart Bar in Brentwood.

With the sad passing of my beloved friend, the art world has lost one of last great impressionist, en plein air artists of our time.

I first met Jason some 14 years ago at Naughty Nuri’s, right after I moved to Ubud. Jason was a master at leaving indelible first impressions. Even before I laid my eyes on any of his work, I was gobsmacked by his bigger than life gregarious and warm personality.

Jason’s paintings are a true reflection of this great man. Like the man, his canvases are normally very large and the challenge of painting them out of doors to capture the light of the moment is an undertaking that no other living artist would attempt today. Watching Jason paint was an experience I never had before. Cussing like a drunk sailor, he would attack a canvas with virtually the same energy, skill and control as he approached his life. No studio painting for Jason...no way.

Over the course of our long friendship I was very lucky to acquire two of his favorite paintings, and they remain on the walls of my home in Ubud to this day. They are a constant source of gratification to my eyes, and more so, they are a wonderful ignition to all the fond memories I have of my time spent with him.

I discovered Jason Monet in a thrift store in Fairbanks Alaska. I have an original sketch of Fred Rosenbaum from 1969. I believe it was one of Jason's moments as a street artist. I love the life size sketch on crinkle paper, I imagine it rolled out as he sketched those passing by. I have since followed Jason's art and life in Bali. I admire that he found love in his life and lived a full and happy life. He will long be admired as an artist whose work expresses his happiness for life and color.

It was 1991 and I had just turned 30. I had done very little traveling up to this point and was just beginning my first trip around the world. A friend and I were visiting Ubud when we met Jason in a bar. He was knowledgeable and really charming. He asked me to come back the following day to sketch my portrait. They were beautiful and I always regretted not purchasing one of them. His palette, as was his personality, very colorful. He will remain on of my fondest memories of my first journey to Bali

I am presently 49 but when I was 25 I was traveling on my own in Bali. As a former dancer I was taking Balinese dance instruction with an American women who had a young son. When her young son went off - she asked me to wait in an artists studio while she went to find her son. It was there that a gentleman asked me to pose for one of his paintings. He painted me in the centre of a large painting surrounded by Balinese boys. I was in a white jumpsuit and fair skinned. I was not aware that the painter was Jason Monet until much later. Now my 15 year old daughter is an aspiring artist and I tell her the story of Jason Monet the artist who I had the pleasure of briefly meeting while in Ubud.
His gift of painting will forever be admired and I fondly remember my brief time with him.

Thrash! Sweep! Rush! Lunge! Look... No, stare! There on a canvas - a crash of color, crazy, lust-love, piercing sight, Life! Do what you want but don't be bloody boring!

You made quite an impression on my younger self. Thank you.

I had not heard the news that Jason has been taken for a higher calling. I am just wiping my tears as I hear his kind voice saying you silly girl.

I was delighted to find the website as I had been thinking of Jason recently and then found the sad news.

I had been recalling the happy times in Bali and Lombok with the Monets. With much love to you all xxx

89' Phillip Island Motorcycle Grand Prix I had the pleasure of being a guest of Jason and his beautiful family.
He prepared a meal of pumpkin soup with lots of cheese, or was it cheese soup with lots of pumpkin. Regardless, I've adopted his culinary method to this day.
Although having never met him before I felt a profound connection to this man. We stayed up late talking and drinking, I have a wonderful charcoal portrait he did of me.
I hadn't thought of Jason for some time until today, 2 days before his anniversary and I didn't even know he was dead.
I was a great honour to meet you Jason.
Stay in peace my friend. May the days disappear like raindrops in the desert sand until we smile upon each other once more.

mark byrnes

i met jason in Ubud in the spring of 1996, i was on the start of my own lifes journey and was taken to his compound for a introduction, it seems i never left, i watched him work like a man possessed sculpt and complete 3 painting in one day, we went on road trips, drank arak, laughed, cried and he gave me the courage to follow my dreams. There will be only one Jason and he will never be forgotten.

jason traf ich zum ersten mal 1992 auf einer meiner ersten reisen nach indonesien auf bali, ich bin dankbar diesen menschen kennengelernt zu haben.
danke das du auf dieser welt warst.
peter

I met Jason at the Deli Cat in 2007. It was my first time in Indonesia, and Jason and I shared a cheese plate with a Merlot. He didn't care to talk about his paintings, which are found in the finest resorts and museums around Bali, as well as all around us in the Deli Cat. Instead he stopped women passing by letting them know how devastatingly beautiful they are. Later he makes this noise for me, a gutteral noise from his throat, which sounds exactly like a digeridoo (those things aboriginals play). He also makes a similar noise when growling at the previously mentioned devastatingly beautiful women--with differing effects. I met him only that single night but he has always stood out in my mind as someone who could love life.

Couple of years ago we aquired 2 beautifully framed paintings because they reminded us of our villages in Tonga.
My wife & I love the playful colours and the contrasts in the lighting.
Experts we are not when it comes to art, but we know what we like.
I just decided today to google his name & here we are... paintints were Fiji 86 & 87.
Never had the pleasure but his work brightens our lives everyday.
Richie O - New Zealand

Irascible old bugger did a drawing of me once. We looked at it. Bit crooked and off center, unique, a million lines congressing in the hope that something would emerge out of this swirl of energy...and something did but it wasn't me and it wasn't edifying. Excuses of pain, chemo and the lust for a new direction made us look again..."nope its bullshit, you can have it" and starts drawing the willow tree with renewed vigour and clarity. Yep, I still miss you, Jason.

We travelled together in one of the last corners of the Earthsea.
I met you late, Jason, you were then a force of nature, and I'm glad to see you kept it going, with still another house built.
My memories are with you wherever you are.
Tino

Sachiko,(Banda island), it'd be nice to get in contact with you: tinoquijano@yahoo.co.uk

why am i always the last guy on the planet to hear things.Commiserations to the whole family, he was always talking about you.
For an Irish guy basking in the beauty of bali Jason was a the best drinking buddy you could meet.The phrase that to bore should be made a criminal offense never left my head after so many long nights in the bush.
Pity he never got to Ireland when he called a few years back, but the intention as always was there and just to talk on the phone made my feel good. Jason always made me feel good.
big man big loss but boy did he live!
thanks Jason
Myles

Somebody wrote that Jason was a lovely man. Perhaps tone or humour was lost in translation, but my father in law was not a lovely man.

Loved yes, lovely, no.

He was cantankerous, ascerbic, hilarious, riveting, wonderful, grandfatherly, wise, wizen, captivating, egotistical, passionate, giving, taking, horrid, incorrigible, inexorable, unflagging, sharp, blunt, cruel, off-the-cuff, outrageous, expansive, and dogged.

This was a man who can never be accused or accursed as 'nice' or 'lovely'.

And I don't know how some of the people who loved him will find such depth of meaning in their lives. I loved the man very much in spite of everything. Everything. I can scarsely write this message without choking up.

Another man who left a trail behind him said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". This is a test Jason excelled in. On an almost daily basis.

Jesus, who can say that about a parent or an in-law?

This picture says everything about the man:

http://www.jasonmonet.com/house/patio.jpg

Merry Christmas you old sod!

i did meet Jason once while he was on a trip to London and can only endorse the messages of affection sent by everyone on this board. but my own contribution is as a collector of his work beginning when I bought almost 30 years ago a huge wooden sculpture he doid of his wife in 1963 when she was 3 months pregnant with , i believe, his first son. when his wife ran off to America he sold it to raise funds to pursue her (unsuccessfully I believe). to Amie McDonald, an actress friend in London. Amie sold the piece when she moved flat and I bought it. since then I have bought several drawings from the 1960s, of Rudolf Nureyev, another bought from barbra Streisand at her sale in New York etc.

While painting, Jason is a swift whirlwind of personalities and paint as he races time to capture the light and the “moment”.

A truly lovely man.

Doris,Camille, Marcelle, Louise, and Simone, I hadn't realised Jason/Dad had gone, Though I've not seen him for years, I'll miss him. I have a number of his drawing of you from the period '76 - '81. Regretfully I'm selling them - are they of interest?

I knew Jason in the early 60's, when he was a struggling young painter. The bar in Brentwood, Essex, where he worked to earn money, was so identified with him that it became known as Jason's Bar. He not only left a vibrant mural there, but a host of friends who will not forget his generous and friendly nature. He had a smile that was as big and bold as his painting.
The bar closed and we all moved away in different directions, but the spirit of Jason will always walk the courtyard and bars of the White Hart Inn.
On behalf of those many friends who knew him at that time and who will not know that he has died, I should like to acknowledge a man who was larger than life and who will be remembered by all of us, not just for his powerful expressionist paintings, but for his warmth and good humour. We,like his family, are the richer for the time we spent together.

I just found out that Jason passed away. Was buisy planning a next vacation to asia, and saw In Memoriam, it shocked me :( , he was such a friendly, special guy, i have a picture with him and me on bali, it allways made me smile.

all the best to everyone that misses him, aspecially the family off course.

I was saddened by reading the news of Jason's passing away. I met Jason in Ubud in December 1990. He was a man bigger than life; very caring, giving and talented. He painted a beautiful picture for me that reminds me of my times in Bali. His artistic spirit will always be in Bali.

I met Jason in 1995 whilst managing Lorin & Kristy Fine Art Gallery in Singapore and completely fell in love with his work and his larger than life character. I bought one of his most powerful pieces - 3 nudes which he painted on his bamboo bed. Its a bold, evocative 2 x 2m painting which is hanging on my wall here in London and I will never part with it.

In 1996 I moved to Ubud to work with Jason to prepare for his 1997 major retrospective exhibition and to write the book about Jason and his work. We sat and talked about his life every day for nearly a year - I taped many of the conversations to use in the next book. He talked animatedly about his family, work, love, passions, beliefs, and recounted hilarious stories and jokes and interesting anecdotes of his encounters with Pink Floyd, Barbara Streisand, Rolf Harris, Cleo Laine etc. I wrote to all Jason's collectors when we were writing the book and each one gave a fascinating insight into Jason's work and the man. Each one genuinely loved Jason and were passionate collectors of his work.

One of my most amusing memories is Jason and I jamming with Leo Sayer in the jazz pub in Ubud and Jason dressing up in his bamboo bull outfit which he had made. I met Leo Sayer in London years later and he still remembers that night!!

I sadly left Bali/Jakarta/Singapore in 2000 and returned to London but always managed to visit Bali and introduce new collectors and friends to Jason. I finally took my hubby to meet Jason which was one of our most memorable trips (2006). Jason wasn't painting much just focussing on his bamboo sculptures. I will never forget the day we all spent happily chatting and laughing together as this was the last time I saw Jason.

Jason was a dear friend, outstanding artist and absolute legend. I will never forget him. All my love to Camille and the family and long may Jason live in our memories. God bless. xxx

Jason was the legend in himself, his life was a story which has the ability to inspire any individual and help him to recognize his real abilities from the deepest core of his heart.
We miss you Jason.

Jason tought me how to carve a block of limestone when i was 10 years old. He sketched out a horses head for me and i carved it out. i showed my art teacher at school and he put it on display.
I never saw it again - it was stolen - It must of been good!
I have chipped away ever since & jasons style can be seen in every peice ive done.
I went to Bali & had organised to meet him in ubud but missed him by an hour. He was building the bamboo house at the time.
ANOTHER GREAT ARTWORK FROM A GREAT MAN.

A GREAT INSPIRATION!

He was truly a legend. Men like him, born in this work once in millennium. His life was very struggling and he eventually received the top status in his field.
He had left a space which could not be filled by any other person on this earth.