We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jalen McNish a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jalen, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I don’t think there is any one right way to parent or raise children, but I can say that there were things my parents did right especially in raising me which I think were detrimental not even to me being an artist but who I am as a person. One thing I feel my parents did right was to always keep me around art or artistic media. My father is a filmmaker and photographer so oftentimes I would go with him on one of his sets or locations where he would be filming. I would also see him sit and work at the computer for hours on end editing videos and projects. When He would finally show me the final product I remember saying it was always like magic seeing how he took something from a simple idea to  an actual work of art. I often think about these moments now in terms of how they have somewhat molded me into an artist. However if I wasn’t with him doing this he made sure I had access to things like movies, video games, books, magazines, music etc. As a kid I was enjoying these things because at the time I just thought they were cool. It wasn’t until I was older and decided to become an artist that I realized how big of an impact these moments had on me. The second thing my parents did right was to always allow me the freedom to express myself. Especially my Mother, who was always vocal in her support of my art. I played a lot of sports growing up and my parents were very supportive and motivating in this journey as I back on it I think they realized it was just one of the many tools I used to express myself outside of art.The last thing and arguably most important thing my parents did right outside of feed me was to unconditionally love and support me. They also made sure that Stayed around and knew who my family was outside of just my immediate family. Now that I’m looking back on it I can say those were the things my parents did right that affected me the most as far as the artist I am today.

Jalen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jalen McNish, most people know me as Nish, and I’m a painter based out of Brooklyn NY. I choose to paint mainly because to me it’s the ultimate form of expression through a visual medium. Painting allows me to show people how I see the world and how I’m thinking and experiencing the world and I find that a very intriguing thing. I was always drawing and sketching a lot more as a kid and growing up, In fact I used to get in trouble for drawing in class often. Every time I got an opportunity to do a project I would always put more effort into the visual side than I would the information side. I didn’t start painting till I got to undergrad and from there years later I haven’t stopped. I graduated undergrad with a degree in psychology and although I don’t think I’ll be working in that field my work seems to have always been geared toward that in ways. My work is influenced by hip-hop, pop and African American culture. Being a 90s kid, old school tv sitcoms and cartoons also find their way into my work. I wouldn’t say I’m super influenced by too many artists right now but there are some artist works that I do enjoy. Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Nina Chanel Abney, Jordan Casteel and Henry Taylor.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The main goal of my mission is to create a visual language for myself and also understand how and where this language fits within the world. As an artist I want to make as much as I can in as many different forms and mediums, creating imagery and a visual aesthetic that is true to me and my work. This is important to me because having a visual language allows me to navigate the world as freely as possible. I want people to see a painting and know it’s me but also I want people to be able to see my hand or language come through on whatever the project or medium is. That is what I would say is my ultimate goal as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @the1nish
• Twitter: @J_Nish27

Image Credits
Jalen McNish Calki Garcia