Jared Konopitski

Showing in galleries all across the globe—from Sacramento, Burbank, Indiana, and New York to Ecuador, Norway, Italy, Canada, and the UK—Jared Konopitski has found his calling as an artist. And, his art has not gone unrecognized–Jared has been included in several publications, including: Juxtapoz magazine, Exit Strategy 2, Ben Walker’s Pompsicle: Naked is Boring, Curious Band of Artists, Attack Magazine, the Wow! Cool Psycho Nurse Calendar, Sacramento News and Review, The Sacramento Bee, Fringe magazine, and Submerge magazine, as well as having work featured on Conan O’Brien’s COCO MoCA (see right).

Around town, Jared participates in the Scary Art Collective where members share ideas, show art, and network together. He has curated shows at the Vox Gallery, been a featured artist on KVIE PBS, had work at the Crocker Art Museum, and has contributed murals around the Sacramento area. In addition to painting, he also creates toys and curates art seminars.

Background

Born and raised in Sacramento, Jared was homeschooled through high school and attended a couple art classes at American River College before planning on enrolling at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Right before signing the final paperwork, he decided he ought to at least try being a working artist first (and save himself some money in the process). Luckily, Jared’s leap of faith turned out wonderfully—he has been in more gallery shows and taken part in more projects than he can count. And, being an almost completely self-taught artist, it’s rewarding for him to know that he can show his work alongside the work of artists he admires.

He has been enthralled with making art since he developed the hand-eye coordination to do so, and has never grown out of it. As a child, he drew along to Mark Kistler’s Imagination Station on PBS, tried to copy the wacky art in MAD magazine as a pre-teen, and, as an adult, discovered Juxtapoz magazine as an endless source of inspiration. About Juxtapoz, he says, “[I saw] all the artists blowing the creative box to pieces and decided to never stop making this crazy art stuff because I had somehow discovered there really is no limit to it and that is always refreshing.”

While he has found continued success through his art, Jared has made a conscious choice to hold a day job, since the stability it brings allows him to not be as stressed while he’s creating. Though, as his art demands to become stronger and the shows more numerous, the balance of time between work and art becomes more challenging.

Inspiration/Style

Jared’s whimsically delightful (and, as he admits, a little unconventional) paintings have a sense of humor about them. With his work, he strives to make weird things comfortable, ugly things cute, mundane things tell amazing stories, and people smile.

Many of his paintings are created on pre-existing pieces. At thrift stores, garage sales, antique stores, and the like, Jared keeps an eye out for paintings that look like they could use a little more character. For these “vandalized collaborations,” Jared meshes his own style with the style of the original painter, melding his images with the ones already created. The end product is a refreshingly rejuvenated artwork, ready to live on for years to come.