We were lucky to catch up with Jon Hwong recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I definitely was anxious about fitting into social norms. I sometimes wished I was a “normal” person “with a steady job” for a long time in my 20s and 30s, especially when times were tough and there were not a whole lot of new clients or projects for me to pick up. I was tired of feeling invisible and unrecognized for my work, particularly when I had to scrape by to make ends meet with jobs that I knew wouldn’t last in terms of career path. It didn’t help that I was saddled with a student loan bill from an art school that taught me everything I needed to know about being an artist, but nothing that I needed to know about being a professional.
I have a lot of friends who ended up getting career paths early on that netted them that traditional life… buy a house, buy a car, get married, have kids. And I thought that maybe I’d be better off just curbing the art life and getting a desk job, or join a union and learn a trade to make at least a comfortable living. But every time I wanted to give up, and just say “fuck it” and go back to, say, a junior college and grab a HVAC certification and start swinging on a less chaotic pendulum of time spent on earth, two things would happen, almost in sequence.
First, every single one of those friends that had the button down straight tracked life would come around and go “dude no, you’re doing great, keep going.” They looked up to me because I had the courage to keep going even when times were tough, and I had to share my creative free time with shit jobs. I’ve mopped up scummy toilets at big box stores in rough neighborhoods, slinged hot dogs in San Francisco’s busiest tourist traps, and delivered liquor to bars and restaurants I would never be caught dead in otherwise. Those good friends would always come around with a free drink or a weekend of groceries, and set me on my way.
Second, a big fish would flop right into my boat. I’d be wondering where rent would come next, and suddenly I would get a commission or a project that paid me so much money that I suddenly didn’t have to worry about anything other than to paint, draw, vector, layer, whatever. And then that momentum would carry me through. I remember being exasperated with this feast or famine sort of lifestyle, and lamenting about it to a mentor of mine. And he smirked, with a twinkle in his eye, and said “You’re screwed, you know that right? Nothing in this life will ever be as good as making art. You can try and do things the way that those friends behind the white picket fences do it, or you can be an artist. Just be an artist, because you’re really good at it.”
Jon, 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 feet and soul are rooted in the gallery and fine art aspect of the industry, though I have also done a lot of underground pop up market style promotion and print sales. I’m a surrealist at heart. My work has been described as visceral, emotion driven, dark, dreamlike, and intense. “Darkadelic” is a term that I came up with to better capture the combination of all those elements without misleading the general public in either direction of those two implied words combined.
I do commissions, largely private and personal in terms of clientele. I’d be very curious to see if my voice has any place within a more buttoned down setting or project, though I can’t really see Coca Cola or Google doing a spread with human anatomy infested with IBM cathode tubes and rabbit skulls.
I don’t ever paint what “looks right”, I only paint what “feels good.” Period.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Well, on a basic level, fucking pay us what we’re worth.
But on a more complex level, contribute. A lot of people buy into the myth that they cannot participate in the arts because they are not creative. Not true at all. We are always looking for contacts to help us with things that we may not be amazing at… mural permits, street market organization, consignment shops. We are always grateful to show our work, and we are always in need of help or even just a little bit of encouragement. Posting on social media is fine, but beyond that we are always looking for ways to show our work to people in places we need help reaching in the real world.
On a highly advanced level, just let go and be free. Think about the times that made you feel happiest and least anxious, when you were having great times with friends and living life for yourself and not for some presence you need to appease on social media. Say hi to strangers, strike up conversations. Be a good human being. Those sort of things add to the atmosphere of a thriving creative culture. Quit hiding behind your devices, and celebrate our humanity. I’m serious.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Yes. To express myself in the most open and honest way possible through my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonslostcolony.net