Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Jones.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Ten years ago, Pixar Animation studios hired me and I relocated to California from the UK. I spent four years living in San Francisco working on their animated features including INSIDE OUT and FINDING DORY. In my spare time, I explored the city and the Bay Area with my sketchbook. I use drawing as a way of familiarizing myself with the streets and neighborhoods of a new city.
When I moved to Los Angeles six years ago, I found the light down here made the colors of everything really vibrant and I started painting my way around the city. I would look up architectural highlights of the city and go find them and slowly got my bearings in this vast city. I painted every neighborhood from the beach to Downtown and Inglewood to the Valley. I decided I’d create enough paintings to have an exhibition and after a couple of years, I was invited by Center Stage Gallery in Burbank to hold my first solo show. Every year myself and two friends choose a destination and go on a painting art retreat; we’ve done a couple in California, New Mexico, New Orleans and Mexico City. The work from these trips was recently exhibited in a group show at Gallery 839 in Burbank and is collected in our new book ‘AM3RICA’. The book represents three artists’ view of the same subject and we hope readers will enjoy our interpretations of locations they may know.
Has it been a smooth road?
Painting is a total pleasure. The tough part is finding the time! The demands of the day job (storyboarding for feature animation) take up most of my time so I have to target weekends where I can escape to paint.
Mounting exhibitions is a lot of work but totally worth it once the work is hung and the show is open to the public. Assembling the accompanying art books takes a huge effort too; scanning all the work, doing a rough layout, captions, working with a graphic designer and the printer to achieve the desired look and quality.
There are smaller struggles while painting like sunburn, uncomfortable seating, mosquitoes, etc. but those are all hazards of the hobby. It’s worth the pain!
Traveling can be draining but exploring all these different locales is stimulating and gives you an urgency and energy to get as much work down as possible within the time constraints – it’s a good challenge.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Professionally I’m a storyboard artist on animated movies. We’re tasked with drawing the first version of the film – we have to set the scene, draw the characters and their acting, work out the cinematography and staging – we’re kind of like directors within the scene we’re given. It can be very complex with long hours focused on this interior world. So painting is an escape and release from that. It’s very different; I’m my own master and answer to only myself. I can experiment and choose my own subject matter. It’s a personal reflection of how I see and experience the world.
I’m proud of the AM3RICA art book and to see my work collected with that of two of my friends, two great artists who inspire and encourage me. It has been greatly rewarding to put the exhibition and book together with them.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Los Angeles is a fascinating city; it seems to be constantly changing. Buildings are torn down and new developments go up. Neighborhoods change radically. And there are so many of these mini-cities with their own flavor and characteristics. The beach is great to slow down, unwind and clear my mind but I also love the chaotic hectic streets of Hollywood and DTLA. Culver City is changing fast and I’ve found much inspiration there with the buildings in the Hayden Tract design by architect Eric Owen Moss. I admire the diversity of cultures here and the sheer availability of art and cinema. Los Angeles is a great base to explore Southern California with San Diego, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree and the Pacific Coast Highway being some of the greatest road trips in the country.
The traffic is, of course, the biggest problem but exploring the city through my art has allowed to find numerous short-cuts and learn when to avoid being on the road.
Pricing:
- AM3RICA art book is $40
Contact Info:
- Website: www.etsy.com/shop/MattJonesOriginalArt
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matt_jones_art
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtOfMattJones/
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Check out the VoyageLA Podcast:
Episode 1 with Content Partner Lisa Taitelman, Founder of Hiking & Wellness company Find Your Trail.
