Since my eyes alight on Jon McNair’s creations, I instantaneously feel a huge facination for it.
Beside his ground tecnic and precision, it’s his particular style that woke in me the amateur of tortured fine art, like the old infernal dictionnary of Plancy I used to read when i was younger (even I wasn’t goth, i swear).
At the middle road between fairy’s tale and malefic sabbat, each of his work open us the doors of a world where the sprites treated with the devil, and where the nature prepares wisely its revenge in the blood… Not surprising when we grew up between Detroit and Baltimore.
Encounter with a great artist,
Hi Jon, first of all, what hour is it while overthere ?
Well, It’s almost 1am here, but I’m wide awake. I think I’m most creative at night.
All right, so can you quickly tell us about your career ?
Sure. I’m an artist and illustrator. I do commercial and personal work, which do overlap in some ways. You could probably say I’m in the emerging stage of my career, but I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in the last year and a half with my personal work.
Who was your first client ?
Hmmm… I guess it was Urbanite Magazine of Baltimore, that was while I was an intern at the magazine the summer before my senior year of college. I did an editorial illustration for them, but it was unpaid. Two years later they asked me to do another editorial illustration for them as a freelance illustrator.
That was my first paid freelance job. I wouldn’t say interning for them got me that assignment though because the person who contacted me didn’t even know I had interned there.
When i have look for the first time at your fine art work, It remembered me those drawings made to illustrates the infernal dictionnary by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy, was this an inspiration source for you ?
I’ve actually never heard of this before, but now I want to look through that book.
So, what are your main source or inspiration ?
Images like the ones you just mentioned are of course an inspiration. I love Renaissance and Medieval art (especially Flemish painting), alchemy imagery, mythology and fairy tales. Films are also a big influence for me. I love Russian animation and silent films like Faust and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I also love any movies with Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animated monsters.
When you are working on a composition do you start with an idea of story ? Or is it more an instinctive work ?
Both scenarios. Sometimes if I am doing a piece for a show that has a theme, I have more of a story beforehand because I need to fit that theme. Work that I do for myself tends to be more intuitive.
While I am working I typically develop the story on the page and add elements as I see fit. I think that’s a really exciting aspect of art, being surprised with where you images can take you. I usually do a really small and rough thumbnail sketch in a notebook and then sketch out on the final paper and most of the development takes place during that stage. There’s a lot of erasing.
There is also a lot of strong symbols inside your creations, such as doves, pyramids, eyes, demons, is there a link with our society ? Or any messages behind that ?
Overall my work is linked to our society in that the characters and scenarios are based on real issues we all deal with as human beings. The symbolism of the specific reoccurring images themselves is a bit more personal to me, and part of that is because they are images that have evolved over a long period of time. This is of course what happens when one draws a lot. So I have an attachment to some of the symbols because I have been drawing them for a while. Some of these visual elements are present simply because they are what I envision to occupy these worlds I have created. It’s sort of like decorating a room I guess. You know your own taste and if something looks out of place, you will notice it. If all the elements work together well, you’ll have a feeling of harmony.
Has living in Michigan, a sadly well known area for economic decline, influenced your style ? Your artistic direction ?
Not really, I guess that doesn’t really phase me too much creatively. I am so used to hearing about what horrible shape Detroit is in, that it has lost the shock value it might have on someone not from around here.
Plus I just moved back here from being in Baltimore for eight years, which has it’s own share of boarded up and dilapidated areas, so I got used to seeing that there. Where I live now is about an hour from Detroit, but it’s very upper middle class suburban. I’d say it’s “white picket fence” suburban, literally, very different from Detroit.
Which techniques and what backing do you like the most ?
I really like pen and ink, collage, graphite and watercolor. I’m trying to get more into painting. I work mostly on paper but I am going to try out wood when I start painting.
I also saw that you love to use found paper like old books covers to make your pieces, is it an ecologist act of kindness ?
Well, it’s two things really. First, I just really like the aged quality of old paper with it’s splotches and warm tones. And second, I can usually get this paper for free at free book places. I like the idea of giving life to old things and repurposing them; transforming them from junk to something beautiful.
Tell us a little bit about the illustration you made for us on the theme Jekyll & Hyde ?
I took the conventional road and did a portrait of Jekyll and Hyde in my own style. It’s a sketchbook drawing so it looks a lot messier than I typically work on finished pieces. However, I do consider it a finished sketch. I’ve read the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a few times and actually recently saw a community theater musical production of it as well. I guess all that found it’s way into my drawing in some way. Part of his grotesque face is revealed behind a flap of skin that opens like a door. His grotesqueness is of course symbolic of the deranged mind of the side of Mr. Hyde. It’s pretty literal but it was the first thing that popped into my head.
Let’s imagine you were stuck in one of your paintings, what would you do to survive ?
I’d make some weapons out of sharpened sticks and rocks, find an underground cave to sleep in, and of course, hunt and gather. Maybe adopt a small creature as a pet too so I don’t get lonely.
Since some profecy we all should live something in 3 years from now… i’m sure you know what i am talking about, so pure invention or ?
I doubt the world will end then, but I’m sure some things may happen that people will point to as evidence that it will.
What are your plans for the future ?
I would really like to pursue more involvement in gallery shows. I love creating personal work and exhibiting it for people to see. I’ve gotten some strong positive reactions from it and that is always encouraging. I’d really like to do some more collaborations with other artists. There are so many talented people out there I’d like to swap ideas with. A solo show somewhere wouldn’t be bad either !
If you have to sum up your work in just one word ?
Personal
Artistic world in just one word ?
Invigorating.
And finally I let you give the last one (word)
Thanks !
Bonus question: What question wished you to hear from us, we didn’t ask ?
What are some of your dream opportunities as an artist? Well, the answer to that is I’d love to do the artwork for a band’s CD, have my work animated for a music video, do a movie poster, and have my work featured in a film. I was reading an article recently about the film “Art School Confidential” and about how they found the artist who did all the paintings in the movie for the main character of Jerome. I just think it would be really fun to see my art worked into a movie somehow, even if it was supposed to be the work of a completely mentally insane person. I’m not picky.