Speak Your Art Blog Hub: Jon Luce Artist Highlight

Jon Luce has an unconventional spirit and it translates into his art. His art is a dichotomy. While his work is always refined and aesthetically beautiful he enjoys challenging us with shocking or unexpected subject matter. He asks us through his work to look past convention, to push past our comfort zones and to explore the truth that only our “shadow selves” can provide.

Jon’s perspective of himself being an artist was much the same as most of us. Growing up he always loved the arts and enjoyed being creative but never thought of himself as an artist. It took meeting his muse and soul mate as an adult to help him awaken the slumbering artist that had always been inside of him.

He was born and raised in Southern California. Jon’s family was always supportive of any artistic endeavors he had as a kid. He played several instruments, switching almost every year to a new one and yet his family never complained. He started where most kids do - loving cartoons, video games and comics. His favorites were Garfield comic strips and superhero comics like Spiderman, X-Men and Spawn.

At an early age Jon was able to see art that inspired him in things that most people considered kid’s stuff. He appreciated the great art that he found in unexpected places. Artists like Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Stephen Platt and Simon Bisley began to fill his comic book bins solely for the art.

Jon was equally inspired when he found a new type of cartoon, Anime and most importantly, 'Akira'. He says, ‘Akira’ was the anime that changed my life. To see the level of artistic talent, the lifelike characters, the shadows and movement. I was shown more about art than I could fully appreciate at that age, I didn't realize what possibilities could be yet”.

He dabbled with art classes in high school, but took them no more seriously than his guitar classes. They were like hobbies to him at the time, not really believing he could do anything with either of them. He tried starting bands with friends and wrote comic books in garages, but never got anything really going.

He 'grew up' as most people do and got a job at the end of high school, moving through different careers and positions of all types. He worked fast food, escrow, courier, waiter, security, telemarketing, video game tester, database manager, theft deterrent, etc. All the while he would doodle or draw funny pictures for friends and family, still not considering that he could be an artist. During this time he met his wife and soul mate Denise. Jon says, “If not for meeting someone like her and being all I can be for her, I may have never tried to be an artist. I married my perfect bride on Halloween, also one of our favorite holidays, as again we don’t always find the typical as inviting as others may.”

His friends encouraged him to do tattoos. He had loved some of the evolving artists like Paul Booth and Carl Grace, so with his wife's encouragement and his friends connections, fate led him to an apprenticeship. One requirement that his mentor Nate had was that Jon needed to go to school while apprenticing to further develop his art. That experience shifted Jon’s paradigm. He began to see other great artists besides the well-known Picasso, DaVinci, etc. He saw a plethora of art in many forms. He not only got to meet and appreciate the work of old masters previously unknown to him but was equally inspired by some of the students sitting right next to him in class. Jon says from that experience, “The artist was born and I have not looked back since then”. JL

Jon is an eternal student, after graduating apprenticeship, he has continued his learning and schooling and continues to this day. He is a freelance tattoo artist and could not be happier. “I love being able to take a cherished memory or idea and give it to someone forever. Making them feel whole, or healed again after having a bad tattoo experience. Whether the experience be from a bad artist, having to cover the name of an ex, or to help cover a scar.” JL

When he is not drawing and tattooing ideas for other people, he spends his time creating his own weird and twisted art. “I have a strange view of things sometimes and grew up with strange influences such as H.R. Giger and Clive Barker and movies like Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street. I am slightly morbid and dark sometimes, like my suicidal veggie line of paintings, but also love to see beauty in all things, not just what is typical or popular.” JL

Jon is now pushing past his own artistic boundaries and his personal comfort zone by sharing more of his work with the public. “I am trying to do more of my own art and put my work out to others, letting them see some of the beauty I see in things not typically noted as such.” JL

Jon will be showing his art at the Arts Open House and Ke-ola Rehab Fundraiser and has also generously offered to donate an original painting. Thank you Jon!

Arts Open House and Ke-ola Rehab Fundraiser event on Facebook.

Contact Info for Jon:
www.facebook.com/jonluceart
jonluceart.blogspot.com