We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jay Alders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Since I was a little kid all I’ve ever wanted to do was be an artist and/or a businessman. It never seemed like an obscure path or one that wasn’t realistic either. While I was growing up my Dad was in sales and owned his own business, so learning art and learning about business happened simultaneously for me. I also had an uncle figure in my Dad’s childhood best friend named Marshall who was a professional artist that would give advice and talk to me a bit about life as a working artist. So being an artist is all I’ve ever planned for. When I was younger I was always labeled the art kid in class and I sort of sucked at a lot of other things, so my path was destined.
Jay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Jason…most people know me as Jay. I’m a formerly introverted and anti-social weird kid who used to doodle in his notebooks in class and didn’t seem to fit in anywhere except holding a paintbrush or pencil or rolling around on a skateboard.
Fast forward to now, I am a professional fine artist. My gazillion years of very hard work has landed my art on the cover of albums and books and magazine covers and working alongside some big names in music. I’ve toured around the world and made art that is most associated with “surf art”, although I hate that narrow label.
I like to paint peak experiences. Visions, fantasies, warped views of the world, beauty, love. I mess with proportions and skew reality and love warm colors and bold imagery and subtle details that most people won’t even notice.
I’m most proud of being a father to three beautiful kids. All the rest is fun but trivial the older I get but I still love making art and seeing what my muse has to dish out.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Ultimately I feel I’m driven by a deep desire to see what I’m capable of. I want to understand why me? Why was I given this set of talents/abilities/curiosities? Surely it must be for a reason, I think. So I am motivated by the concept of honoring those gifts and serving them. I want to make the world a better place and inspire others and give life to the visions that dance through my head.
My style as an artist is also fueled by passion. As I’m painting and drawing it feels very much like a spiritual experience as though I’m just the middle man between the idea and the final artwork. It feels as though there’s a purpose-filled imperative for me to be doing what I do.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Creating something from nothing. Pulling ideas from thin air and being the one chosen to give them a pulse. When I’m painting it’s as though it’s not me doing the work. It’s a spiritual journey that, when done the right way, is it’s own reward beyond comprehension.
My career as a creative has also made me some of my closet friends and brought me to places around the world. I’ve had pinch me moments around the planet that seem so surreal I can barely comprehend that they’re real. But when it comes down to it, it’s the feeling of “I did it” and “I am doing it” that often means the most. I feel so proud that I’ve followed through on this childhood dream. I do it for my inner child…that awkward nerdy socially deprived kid. I know he’s proud of me.
To read this interview online, go to the CanvasRebel website.
