Jon Napoles
Florida
Artist Statement Submitted 2019
I entered Art as an Outsider. During the recession I began taking windows from old/ sometimes abandoned crack houses and painting scenes of "american Bar Culture" on them. I have always been fascinated with the social sub-cultures of the U.S. (especially after dark). I gained large popularity as a word of mouth folk artist selling over 500 paintings in the Orlando/Winter Park area and throughout Jacksonville to Savannah Georgia.
I take great influence from the masters and put a current juxtaposition on my works. I have taken Jasper Johns idea of a target and shot them with guns to show the ideology of luxury, I have depicted social injustices of the Groveland Four with a modern take on cave drawing by using chisel and relief method and I am currently working on a installation that examines bathroom vandalism as a means to gauge social commentary with the claustrophobic confines of a Rothko color-field. I am always looking for new perspective to reflect the contemporary South.
https://omart.org/exhibitions/jon_napoles_devil_city/
