John Azoni: Detroit Artist

If you haven’t heard, my wife Laura, and I are now officially Kalamazoo residents as of Monday. Laura is going to grad school for her Masters in Social Work at Western Michigan University, so we will be here for a couple years, then will move back to the Detroit area following Laura’s graduation.

You can read about our exhausting moving experience on Laura’s blog, but in short, this is the new studio space as it stands:

Looks like I’ve got some work to do.

I received a copy of the Art of Eating magazine that I did an illustration for a couple months ago. I think the spread turned out really nice. Here are a few images (a different artist did the cover):

"I went somewhere in a cup of tea", 2011 - 28" x 52", acrylic on canvas

A good friend of mine, Kelly, is a really inspiring person; a talented and accomplished writer, deep thinker, and a lover of those moments in life that create unique memories, and are best shared with the closest of friends.

This commission was a different one, in that most clients when they commission a painting from me, have a pretty straightforward idea of what they want. Kelly wasn’t quite sure, which I can totally understand. Commissioning a painting for many is a big deal. Especially with a painting this big, it would be a dominant figure in the room. So as we brainstormed, we agreed it needed to be something more than an ambiguous abstract painting, or a nondescript landscape. In keeping with Kelly’s profession and passion, it needed to have some sort of story to it, without being overly literal.

We eventually landed on a theme of ‘something that doesn’t belong in a landscape’.

I had done a mural in our mutual friends’ apartment several years ago, which became the starting point for this piece.

For Kelly’s painting, I kept imagining an antique living room setup in an open field. She had sent me some writing samples to get some ideas from, and the writings to me had a quiet introspection and nostalgia to them. Sort of just thinking on life, memories, and friendships… and so the painting I felt had to have a quietness about it… a feeling of reflection, and it also had to hint at community; so two chairs as opposed to one.

After finishing the painting, I had a hard time titling it. Titles for me are usually a last minute add-on… a mere step above naming everything “Untitled”. I just don’t put too much emphasis on them. But in keeping with the fact that this painting possessed more of a specific story than I’m used to with my work, I went back through Kelly’s writing and the opening line to one of the pieces she sent me really grabbed me: “I went somewhere in a cup of tea today.” I felt that really summed up the direction I was going for with this painting.

Well, my wife, Laura and I are moving to Kalamazoo, MI next week where I will be setting up a new studio space there. If you are interested in commissioning a painting or purchasing something I’ve already done, be sure to let me know via the contact form.

We’re up in Suttons Bay this weekend at my dad’s condo. As Laura and I were packing to head up here I had the thought to bring some painting stuff just in case. I really haven’t done much of any on-site painting in my career as an artist, so I figured this would be a relaxing and scenic opportunity to start.

Leland, MI is just about a 15 minute drive from Suttons Bay so Laura and I headed over there. Leland is a historic fishing town, so there’s lots of old shanties and docks and interesting stuff to paint, but there are also a ton of tourists that flock there, so we opted to get away from all the people and settled on a calmer spot by the beach.

Painting here was definitely more difficult than I had expected. The wind from the lake was blowing hard and constantly, so I had to paint fast because my paints kept drying up on my palette.

When Laura wasn’t exploring the area with the camera, she was reading The Help. Her review: it’s hilarious. This was confirmed by her steady stream of giggling beside me.

Here’s the final product:

Leland Shore, 2011 - 9" x 12" acrylic on canvas

My biggest fear about painting on-site has been people coming up to me and wanting to watch me paint, or making comments and whatnot… interrupting the process… especially if I’m not happy with the painting at that point in time. But as it turns out, the handful of people that passed by didn’t seem to care about what I was doing. Now I just wonder what that says about my painting skills. :)

Recently I was commissioned to paint an image of this reflection pool behind the art museum at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

"Cranbrook Reflections", 2011 - 16" x 20", acrylic on canvas

The cool thing is that this was commissioned by a bride who is giving it to her soon-to-be husband on their wedding day next month. This spot holds a special meaning for the two of them, and what a great way to honor and remember this place for the rest of their lives.

What’s especially great about this for me is that my wife and I discovered this spot when we were dating and would to go there for picnics on restful Sundays. We’d pick up some good snacky food at the store after church, shut our phones off, and just hang out and dream about the future together.

One such day at Cranbrook

In fact, it was here, looking at the same statues in the reflection pool that we excitedly began talking about what our own wedding might look like, specifically, what song would play as Laura was walking down the aisle. I hadn’t even proposed yet, but it was that day that I began thinking “alright.. I guess this is it”, in the most confident way possible. Now coming up on a year-and-a-half of marriage, I know I couldn’t have made a better choice.

So what place holds significant for you in your relationships?

If you’ve been following this blog, then I will tell you my plan is to paint portrait subjects other than my wife.  But she’s just so nice to look at, and is usually a ready participant. Besides, artist Alex Katz has painted dozens of paintings of his wife throughout his career, so perhaps I have a lot of catching up to do.

"Laura in the Sun" - 25" x 26", Acrylic on canvas - $975

As I’ve been venturing back into portraiture after a stretch of painting mostly food imagery, I’ve been loving the approach of simple and rough. Paintings can easily become overworked, and it’s most annoying and noticable with portrait work in my opinion. My favorite paintings are the ones I’ve fussed the least with. So my motto in the studio lately has been, “it’s better left underworked than overworked.”

My goal with this painting was to focus solely on the figure, which meant removing her from any obvious context, like a room, or sitting in a chair. In addition, I wanted simple marks, simple shapes, and crudely drawn lines. I think I achieved the energy of the final product, and the fun in the process that I was aiming for.

Check out past portrait work here and ask me about commissioning a portrait here.

I came across this motion graphics piece by To-Fu today on Design.org. I found it to be not only really engaging to watch (I wish I could do even a little bit of motion graphics) but also pretty encouraging, especially if you’re creative and find yourself in a slump from time to time as I do.

A few of my favorites:

• “Surround yourself with creative people” (also for me, other people’s art)
• “Go someplace new” (I’ve been trying to put this into practice)
• “Have fun” – which goes hand-in-hand for me with “don’t try to be someone else’s perfect”

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

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