Mark Warren Jacques
Insta @mwjstudio
Website mwjstudio.com
Shop mwjstudio.shop
Music https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JcMJoca5yWgHcqe32ErIK?si=m2eU3E7lSAeBkVF4RtuPkw
Who are you and what have you been creating lately?
My name is Mark Warren Jacques, human, X and Y chromosome carrier, artist, musician, 37 rotations around the sun. Lately, I’ve been playing with oil paint, which is something new for me, and making a lot of music which is always fun.
Where are you from and how does it influence your art?
I was born in Columbus, Ohio then moved to Circleville, Ohio, a small rural town, when I was seven. I grew up on a farm playing in the woods and that sense of freedom and a connection to nature influenced my creativity immensely. As a teenager, we moved back to the city, of Columbus, and I started skateboarding and doing graffiti which also dramatically influenced my sense of individual style and creativity. After college, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and got a taste of the PNW vibe, which at the time (circa 2005) was liberating and inspiring. I fell in with a group of artists and really devoted myself to making paintings full time which led me to San Francisco for a few years where I was able to establish my work and in turn support myself exclusively with my art. I also spent a couple of years in NYC, and LA, and I even took a crack at Paris for a time before landing in San Diego. All these places informed my art-making and worldview in unique ways.
What is your creative process?
I don’t really have a set process that I follow. Inspiration might strike at any time so I just sort of go with the flow. One thing I love about being an artist is the freedom to work at any time and on whatever I want. There are times of extreme productivity and other long stretches where I don’t feel like painting at all, sometimes I force it and the outcome is awesome, then other times I'm super inspired, working all time but can’t get anything to turn out, so I’m really not sure what the process is. I know many artists that feel this way. Sort of like we are antennas of art, sometimes the signal is strong and other times it's nowhere to be found!?
What piece are you most proud of?
I’m not sure I have a “most proud of piece”. Art seems to be a natural extension of my being so I suppose I’m proud of all the work I’ve created over the years. Maybe just the fact that I keep at it is what I’m most proud of. There have been times when it was very difficult and seemed utterly foolish to continue, yet the path always revealed itself when I opened my heart to it. I still don’t quite understand why art is so important to us as humans, like what it actually does for us. On the surface it can seem very trivial, but then there are these inspiring moments of explosive beauty that connect us in ways that nothing else can, and those moments make it all worth it.
How do you define success as an artist?
Success in all of life is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, success is defined solely by my desire to continue, to wake up every day and make something happen creatively or otherwise, just to keep going, ideally with a smile on my face and love in my heart.