We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jon Kvassay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jon , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
I’m not sure if starting sooner would have made a difference. I started kinda late in life, I decided to drop everything at 27 and go to college for Illustration. Honesty, I didn’t have much to drop so it was kind of a no brainer. I think what would have made a difference would have been learning to deal with self doubt and self sabetage early. I spent my late teens and early 20’s mostly focussed on everything but art. I started and dropped out of community college over and over again. I played in a band with my friends for like ten years and it never went anywhere. It was incredibly fun, but I gave it all of my attention. I tried to be a sales guy and took jobs in insurance, which was incredibly wrong for me. I basically took on every distraction that I could in order to feed and appease my self doubt. I think if you expect failure it starts to feel safe and comforting. I still fight this daily but now I can see through my own bullshit a little better.
So yeah, I think starting earlier would have been a disaster. The doubt would have killed me off before I even could really get going. If I had learned to eliminate the negativity early I would have been a child prodigy. I am super grateful and happy for the time I have. Stuff is the way it is for a reason, I guess.
Jon , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I call myself a contemporary western painter, I make work for people who are considering living in a potting shed. I grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs at the edge of the desert. When I am making work I’m thinking of how the openness of those spaces made me feel, quite adventure and possible danger are big themes. As an adult I learned that my grandmother was a big believer in folklore. She grew up in rural Slovakia pre ww2. At that time, in that place it was common to see fairies, elves and werewolves roaming around your village. Her belief in the supernatural really opened a window for my own beliefs and I try to incorporate them into my work as much as possible especially spirit orbs and magical animals.
My audience is always myself first and then people who still have childlike sensibilities. There’s always a dinosaur skull and some kind of cartoonish fight scene. If it was music it would be a Spaghetti Western soundtrack. The stories are menacing and very serious but the execution is bright and child like. It’s not too different from a kids book illustration or a cave painting.
For the last 7 years I’ve lived in Cleveland Ohio with my wife, son and dog. Besides being a father my focus is on creating as much work with as much integrity as possible. I want my work to be out in the world and available to whoever might get something out of it.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
If you are a Normy recognize that you are a Normy and go out into the world find something new that you think is “weird” but speaks to you on some level and dig deeper into that. Take the time to go down rabbit holes, suspend your disbelief and adjust your paradigm. Opening up to cool stuff is the best way to get more cool stuff. I need to remind myself to do the same thing.
I think in order for artist to thrive everyone else needs to thrive as well in whatever realm they are in. The best thing for me as an artist is for non artist to succeed and earn enough extra money to buy art. For the eco system to exist people need walls to hang the work on. They need to be comfortable enough to focus on beauty and not totally stressed about survival.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I think the act of painting and being in a flow state is the best reward. It’s cool to have praise for the work but it’s also embarrassing. Selling work feels great but doesn’t last long because there is always more to sell. Getting started is always a tough especially when it requires a trip to Home Depot and lot of sawing and gluing wood to make panels. So yeah, the act of painting is great. It’s a time when I feel content. I know I’m doing what I am meant to be doing and Im grateful to have that gift.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonkvassay.com
- Instagram: jon_kvassay
- Facebook: jon kvassay
