We recently connected with Jimmy McMenamin and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jimmy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I am a business owner, husband, and a father of three. Lately, I have been taking a very long term view on my business goals and life goals in general. My day to day connections with clients, new and old, is my number one priority. I believe that providing the absolute best service to clients is paramount. But this goes beyond the quality of the artwork itself. I want to build a connection and relationship with each client or business associate. I value each and every client, because they are the ones allowing me to continuing my passion, and I don’t take that for granted. My hope is that my legacy (when I’m old and gray) is a story of service that is an inspiration to my children and anyone else that can gain inspiration from what I’ve built. I hope that they can look at what I’ve accomplished and imagine that for themselves, give them courage to pursue their own passion or their own path, aim higher, reach for more, be more disciplined in order to get there. Art just happens to be my passion and my story, but if I can inspire others in a positive way, I believe that is the highest form of excellence and the best legacy to leave behind.

Jimmy, 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?

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. I was always interested in art and learning new techniques and methods. I was very interested in graffiti and graffiti culture in high school and that’s definitely when lettering became my focus. I would draw graffiti and mess around with traditional wildstyle lettering, all in a sketchbook, never trying to paint it. I was accepted to Rutgers University where I studied Marine Science and Ecology. At the same time, I was being pulled towards graffiti in a stronger way, I was seeing it everywhere and a few friends were painting so we all formed a crew and started painting heavily. That was right around 2006, and I was painting graffiti weekly and also working a full time job pertaining to my major.

After graduating college, I was searching desperately for a cool job that fit my degree. I worked a handful of jobs, considering them as stepping stones to a grander career, possibly something in a marine research field or with Fish & Wildlife. These years were my busiest when it came to graffiti. My friends and I had a pretty strict weekly routine of painting freights 3 times a week, and we stuck to that up until recently. These are definitely the years that built my foundation as well as my reputation for being a ‘straight letter’ guy in the national freight graffiti community. For me and my friends, it was more of an excuse to meet up a few times a week, catch up on things, vent about work, and get some work done. After painting for years on end, it just becomes a routine, less of an adrenaline rush, more of an escape from the day to day stresses. Even during these years I remember having a checklist of different techniques I wanted to paint (cracked, slimy, ripped, upside-down, bevel, chrome, etc), probably a bit a foreshadowing of things to come.

While I was working a crappy job and painting graffiti a handful of nights a week, I was also juggling occasional mural jobs. In 2008, I was painting a legal graffiti wall in Camden and was asked by a roller rink owner to paint the entire rink floor a Las Vegas strip theme. I had never done any murals before this, had no idea how to price it out, what supplies I needed, or how long it would take. This definitely planted the seed and I realized I could quickly make a week’s pay in only a few hours. At this time I was already using Glossblack as a business name, originally with the intention of creating handmade fonts for sale, but that quickly faded away as mural business started to take over. I would promote on Craigslist routinely and mostly directed my skills at daycares and other cartoony jobs. Fast forward to 2015, a client gave me full artistic freedom on an empty corner lot. I painted a large ‘PHILLY’ in an illustrative chrome effect as well as a vibrant letter-based fence surrounding it, right in the heart of Fishtown. After that, I could really tell that things started to snowball and I was painting murals almost weekly, as well as picking up some major corporate clients.

2016 is when everything fell into place. My wife and I were newlyweds, expecting our first child, emptied our savings account and bought a home, purchased a much needed new car, and with all of these new financial burdens, I decided to quit my day job! …and it was absolutely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. For the longest time, I had wished to be able to support myself (and my family) with my art but I never really imagined how this was possible. I think I always relied on the idea that I would work for someone, maybe painting a movie set or learning faux finish, etc. Looking back, I feel like it was smacking me in the face for years, that spray painting large scale work was my specific strength, and that’s the avenue I should be pursuing. That lettering and the way I approach letter structure/texture is unique to me, and no one else, and that’s what will become my brand or trademark.

Today, as I mentioned, client relations and their satisfaction is my priority. After being in business for a number of years I realize that my connections to clients and providing a product that is beyond what they expect is the most goal. If I were to be introspective, I one of my strengths is my ability to adapt to the client’s needs. I don’t depend on style of art, just a variety of approaches that a bound to work from one client to the next. This assures that I’m not too rigid in my services, while also controlling the art direction and not being overly managed by the client.

I’m most proud of myself and my business for providing an honest service. I am not here to simply make money and move to the next person. I am here for service. I am here to make sure the client is happy while also retaining my own spin on the art. In all ways of my art, business, and family life I’m pursuing excellence, and I do my best to apply this to all aspects of the business & life at home.

How did you build your audience on social media?

My career as an artist, somewhat pre-dates social media, or began around the same time. I have never mislead people or boasted about something that wasn’t true. You can literally go back to my first posts on instagram/Facebook and see my (not so great) artwork from years back. I consider myself an honest person, I’m not afraid to show my work as it’s created because I know I can continue to recreate and do better. It’s important to people just starting out to put themselves out there and not worry about what others may think. My art is weird, its heavily letter-based, some of its with corporate clients…does everyone like art like that? No. Are there people that are into the same stuff I’m into? Of course. Am I going to change what I like to cater to other people. Absolutely not. The only time I do this is for client work and I do that willingly, knowing that’s part of my service as a business owner. I enjoy that for what it’s worth. But I also enjoy my own direction, no matter what if it’s popular or trendy on social. So from an artist perspective, living in the social media age, my advice would be to lean into your strengths and your own feelings/visuals. It will likely resonate with more people than you expect. And someone who is confident and honest in who they are is always appealing to others.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

This is an area I would like to improve on. Typically my clients need my services once or twice (for mural work) and then life goes on. I do my best follow all clients and all employees that I’m meet or work with, keep an eye on what they are up to and connect and encourage them as I see them winning. I have a number of repeat clients, brands, & art advisors that I speak with yearly and I they alway get my full attention and a direct line to me at anytime. I’m really big on sending care packages to show my appreciation to each client, and I want them to know my gratitude for being chosen to help further their brand image.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glossblack.org
• Instagram: @glossblack
• Facebook: Facebook.com/glossblack
• Linkedin: Jimmy McMenamin – Head Artist & Owner of Glossblack, LLC
• Twitter: @glossblack
• Youtube: YouTube.com/@glossblackllc4087

Image Credits
Jared Polin (image in the studio working) Self (all other photos)