Overcoming, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60 in., 2024
BIO
Jon Weiss is a fine art painter & illustrator who has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 35 years. Born in Chicago and raised in New Jersey, he moved to California in the early 1980s to pursue art and music. He attended both San Francisco Art Academy and the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied both graphics and illustration arts before pursuing a career as a fine art and commercial painter. In the early stages of his painting career, murals and decorative arts were the focus, eventually giving way to a more personal form of expression in gallery format paintings. Jon's love for traditional Renaissance painting and etching combined with more organic modernism provides the basis for his unique and multi-stylistic compositions. His work is currently focusing on flowers and botany incorporating design motifs from around the world. Jon’s work can be found in many private and public spaces including Pandora offices in downtown Oakland and Haight Street Market in San Francisco.
STATEMENT
I am a visual artist primarily focused on painting as a medium as well as incorporating various illustrative styles to create immersive art experiences. My paintings draw from various traditional styles including Renaissance, Pre-Raphaelite and Nouveau and blends them with more contemporary applications such as pop poster art and even fabric design. My intent is to take classical art forms and integrate them with 21st century design elements to give a sense of elegance while pushing contemporary motifs. Subjects chosen often depict floral and organic forms and juxtapose them alongside postmodern backgrounds and environments, giving the viewer a sense of wonder while maintaining a timeless reverence for Old World beauty and form.
In a world where connections and physical pursuits are often exchanged for digital experiences, my art intends to remind viewers that interaction with nature and one's own imagination can provide endless wonder and pleasure every day.
CV
Jon Weiss
Born 1958, Chicago, Illinois
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA
Education
Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Exhibitions
1991 Architects and Heroes, solo exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2007 111 Minna, group exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2010 Public Works Gallery, solo exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2013 Wonderland SF, group exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2017 La Matadora, group exhibition, Joshua Tree, CA
2019 North Beach Bauhaus, solo exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2020 de Young Open 2020, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Mural Commissions
1995 Music Annex Recording, Menlo Park, CA
1995 Kates Kitchen, San Francisco, CA
1996 Truly Mediterranean, San Francisco, CA
1997 Hayes St. Laundry, San Francisco, CA
1998 Magnolia Pub & Brewery, San Francisco, CA
1999 Star Cleaners, San Francisco, CA
1997 All You Knead, San Francisco, CA
1998 Haight Street Market, San Francisco, CA
2019 Gus's Market, San Francisco, CA
2023 Caffe Capriccio, San Francisco, CA
Illustration Commissions
1998 White Pepper, Ween, album art
2023 Elevators Come Undone, The Hearers, album art
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