Rising Stars: Meet Jeremy Fish of National

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Fish.

Hi Jeremy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I moved to San Francisco in 1994 to attend SFAI, the oldest art school on the west coast. I landed a great job in the skateboard industry, screen printing and designing graphics. From there I was able to build following for my artwork, and have been showing my work in galleries and museums around the world ever since. I find a healthy balance of commercial illustration collaborations, and exhibiting my drawings, paintings and screen prints on the walls of places I never imagined my artwork would take me.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been mostly a very smooth road paved with hard work, dedication to my craft, and an intentionally short list of distractions. I nearly died from a brain surgery and a divorce, but neither killed me, and thankfully both made me a stronger person with much less trust in the human race.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I draw pictures, make paintings, create screen print editions, make bronze public sculptures, drawn over 400 skateboard graphics, design rare sneakers, create endless product collaborations, paint the side of buildings, and was the first artist in residence in major league Baseball history for the SF Giants. Late mayor Ed Lee declared November 19th is officially celebrated as “Jeremy Fish Day” in San Francisco. I am most proud of the relationship I have built with my neighborhood (North Beach), and my adopted city of 32 years. The fact that I am not an asshole, and I never moved away from the city where I built my career is what sets me apart from others.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I would not have this job without taking an enormous amount of risks. Moving 3k miles from home to study art, and try to work in a field that employed less than 100 artists worldwide (skateboard graphics in the 90’s). Continue to make my living drawing cartoon animals in the most expensive and technologically advanced city in the USA. I have always been a risk taker and an adrenalin junkie since I was a little kid. After knee surgery, ankle surgery and brain surgery I have slowed down considerably and find myself to be more of the turtle and less of the rabbit at this stage in the fairy tale that has been my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sillypinkbunnies.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrjeremyfish
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrjeremyfish