06 Dec Jason Naylor: A Vibrant State of Mind
We were so lucky, and more importantly inspired, to talk to award-winning artist, designer, and creative director Jason Naylor who fearlessly made a drastic change in his career. Originally working in the Creative Department of MAC Cosmetics, six years later, Jason set out to start spreading his own message into the world through both digital and traditional media. With work ranging from typography and illustration, to products and large scale murals, the immediately recognizable commonality in all of his work is his electric color palette and his positivity.
See what he has to say in an interview with the Life-Styled by Stacy Garcia Team below!
Artist & designer, Jason Naylor
How did you get started as a street artist?
“I have always been an artist, drawing, coloring, painting even as a kid. My Mom is an artist and very creative and I always loved art classes in school. I went to college for art and design and started my career as a graphic designer, but after a few years of sitting at a computer, I was dying to get out and create from a more free place. I quit my job and began freelancing. Meanwhile, I had discovered how much I loved seeing my work at large scale from designing graphics for events, and I started looking for mural work. I was fortunate to land a gig painting a 50 ft mural for Microsoft during SXSW and since then have seized every mural opportunity I could get my hands on, and at a certain point, I landed an outdoor brick wall and had to paint it with spray paint. Since then I’ve focused on doing as much on the street (outdoor) as possible.”
As a street artist, you must have thick skin to put yourself and your work out there. Has this been difficult?
“Putting your work out there is a pretty common thing for artists to do, and each person has a different way of doing it and also their own ideal place to put it out there, but whether its posting it on IG or painting it on the street, sharing art is essentially sharing yourself. So yeah, its quite vulnerable to do it, but to be honest, I find it to be really empowering to make myself vulnerable to the public. I love leaving messages on the street for people to see and read, and knowing that my messages definitely will resonate with at least SOMEONE, is powerful. And every artist loves the response of the public, (whether they admit it or not), and I really love knowing my work is appreciated. It’s so motivating for me and drives me to make more.”
Your murals exude confidence and optimism. How do you capture this in your pieces?
“I think the confidence is tied to the vulnerability. You make yourself vulnerable, putting yourself out there, and get a response, a like, a repost, a tagged photo, a thank you, a “I love your work”… and these things all give validation. Which you can then turn into confidence and pour that into your next piece. It’s a cycle. As for putting optimism and confidence into my own work, for me its a formula of message and color. I rely on bright colors to reinforce messages and themes of love, kindness, and positivity and I like to make my designs loud and splashy to grab attention. I want to make sure people see my message and when they do, I want them to have a moment of joy.”
In this career, what is the biggest risk you had to take?
“My biggest risk was quitting my day job to pursue art full time. It was scary AF… but somehow it worked and I’ve been doing this about 10 years now. In the beginning everything felt like it was resting on the shoulders of the thing before it… like the bottom could drop out at any moment. But now I have a rhythm that works and I love it. It was definitely worth the risk.”
What’s next?
“I am working on a book that will come out at the end of 2020, which is new for me because its not just art, but a lot of writing as well. It’s a totally new creative outlet for me and it’s been a challenge, but I am excited for the final product and to get it out there for the world :)”
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