Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Schoemaker.
Josh, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
ALTER EGOS
David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust, Clark Kent/ Superman, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde… Ok, that last one isn’t the best example, but those are a few well-known personas that have two distinct aspects of themselves. That basically sums up my life as a creative. I have always had a passion for fine arts and have explored numerous mediums like printmaking, collage, oil, acrylic, watercolor, sculpture and even ceramics. But I was also schooled and have a passion for the graphic arts consisting of: digital and print design, animation, typography, and photo art direction. Those are my alto egos: Designer-By-Day, artist-by-night.
I was born with my art persona. As long as I can remember I was creating art, but it wasn’t until my first year of college that I started exploring abstract expressionism. It was the 1st period American Art History class at 8:00 am. Way too early, but it was there that I was instantly intrigued by the works of Robert Motherwell. His Zen-inspired works intrigued me to research this ancient and highly refined Japanese medium. The unique character in the brush strokes, as well as the pure black ink application in Zen painting, continue to inspire me today. These spiritual marks communicate emotion to the viewer, similar to the way different uses of typography in our everyday alphabet can transcend the literal meanings of words and create emotion by the arrangement. My ever-evolving art, sculptures, and collages reflect hints of typographical forms, Zen painting and intuitive compositions (designs) that are the foundation of my work.
Which brings me to my other persona, a graphic designer. Although I consider myself an artist at my core, design has always afforded me the opportunities to create, present and promote my art in the most aesthetically pleasing way. I design my own branding and website, shoot my own photography and even animate my art just for fun. All of which would be costly to commission out to someone else to do it for me. Besides the economic benefit of being a designer, the principles of design that I practice: balance, rhythm and repetition, emphasis, proportion and scale, and harmony are all key components of great fine-art as well. So my designer-by-day and artist-by-night “alter-egos” constantly influence each other and bring the two sides of my story together in unexpected ways.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
What drives me to create my art can best be described as a constant hunger to discover a new and compelling composition that checks off all of my favorite aesthetics: unexpected marks and textures, dynamic forms and a lot of blacks. This craving is temporarily suppressed for a few minutes after I hang a finished piece on the wall. My hope is the viewer experiences the same intrigue and curiosity I tapped into when I was creating the piece.
Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
The conditions for artist today can be very good if you get in with the right people and the right gallery for your art. You have to be careful, I have had a few experiences where I was really taken advantage of by “want-to-be” galleries. Those experiences turned me off to the whole gallery scene, and I have been exclusively selling my art online. Before the only way to sell art was in a gallery or at local shows, and now you can display and sell your art to the whole world at any time. So you aren’t dependent on the preferred medium or subject matter of the area you live in. Most of my sales have come from out-of-state and even Sweden. I encourage all artists to create a website for themselves. Squarespace.com offers a variety of templates that are simple to create, customize and update. Plus, there are how-to videos that can walk you through any questions or issues.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My collection of art can be seen and purchased on joshschoemaker.com ( The ‘C” is Silent) That common oversight is what I exploited in my branding for me as an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: joshschoemaker.com
- Email: art@joshschoemaker.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/joshschoemaker
Image Credit:
These photographs are my own.
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