Cradle Kill, 5" x 7", Graphite on Legal Pad Paper. 2019. Image Courtesy of the Artist.
Cassidy Early: Good Afternoon, Jan! Let's start off with you telling me about yourself: where are you from and how did you end up at SAIC?
Jan Simonds: Hey Cassidy, I can do that. I did my growing up/personality forming in Boston, but I was born in San Diego, CA and lived there till I was 11. I also spent every summer, 1-2 months, in Slovakia from the time I was 5 years old until High School. Leading up to graduation, I didn’t have any real future plans for myself because I had such poor self esteem. I only applied to 3 colleges, two in Mass, all art schools. I chose SAIC because it was the best of the three.
CE: Why did you choose Advanced Painting?
JS: Since moving to Chicago, I wanted to prove to myself that this was the right life path for me. I was admitted to AP the first time I applied, which felt like a total surprise. I wanted the communal studio experience, and it really challenged how I approach my work. I was doing painted sculpture, super colorful, relief inspired stuff that only lived on the surface.
CE: In your current work what are your main concerns/ themes or objectives?
JS: After class last year, I questioned my motivations and shifted to making drawings to efficiently figure out what I’m after. I started exploring more personal themes that I’ve been scared to share artistically (sexuality, cultural heritage, family history). If it weren’t for that environment I definitely wouldn’t be making the way I do now.
Precious Vessels, 14"x10" Graphite on Legal Pad Paper and Scotch Tape, 2020. Image Courtesy of the Artist.
CE: In your legal pad drawings your material and content are interestingly composed, there’s the nostalgic yellow lined paper, the monochromatic gray graphite as material, and then the whimsical and dark drawings. What brought you to this juxtaposition of surface, material, and subject?
JS: I always liked yellow lined paper as an object. When I started drawing on it, I was just composing for future paintings. When I tried making one of the drawings into a painting, it didn’t feel the same to me and I thought I had to keep investigating. I think the paper allows me to feel free enough to fail. Growing up, I didn’t know how to talk to other people about being Slovak, queer, etc. so those aspects of me became minimized. The paper reflects how I’ve been treating those experiences and aspects of myself. I honestly went into making them thinking, “if nobody likes these, so be it. I need to let this out.” Being positively received for investigating these themes has helped me open up personally and artistically, even to myself.
CE: What is your studio practice like after the move off campus?
JS: I’m incredibly lucky to have a secure home in Chicago. My materials are simple to access and I had plenty before the move. I’ve been using my resources to help where I can: giving materials to other artists, holding objects for students living in the dorms that couldn’t travel with them. I felt incredibly selfish making personal drawings so I forced myself out of it by making one specifically to sell with 100% proceeds going to Night Ministry, an excellent homelessness organization in Chicago. I’m guilty of having self indulgent fears in this crisis and this is how I pull myself out of them.
CE: Who are your biggest artistic or theoretical influences?
JS: The first painting I saw that allowed me to think I could be an artist was a Karl Wirsum. His work in particular of the Hairy Who speaks to me the most. Gladys Nilsson’s work is also amazing, having her as a prof. was one of my favorite experiences at SAIC. Pete Fagundo has also been a really encouraging prof. Zdenek Miler was a Czech artist who created this animated character Krtek, massive fingerprint on the way I draw/compose. More than artists, I’ve been looking at photos from Slovakia my mom sends me. If all goes well, she’ll be flying home to Boston soon.
Becoming What I Believed, 15"x 21", Graphite on Legal Pad Paper and Scotch Tape, 2020. Image Courtesy of the Artist.
JS: -- I don't know if this is worth including but I think it’s funny: I interned for a sculptor 2 years ago, Jill Bonaguro. Talking about my work, I said “I don’t know if I wanna make stuff about being Slovak and gay” and she said “You should!” Funny to me that I was minimizing those aspects of self for so long and eventually found my way to appreciating their value.
CE: That's.. kind of great.
CE: Thank you, Jan! I hope everything works out well with your mom. It was great getting to know more about your work.
JS: Thanks, Cassidy.
Jan Simonds is a Senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. You can find more examples of his work on his instagram - @janvsim or on his website, jansimonds.com