Today we’d like to introduce you to Joey Mars.
Joey, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Went to art school in Boston in the early 1980s. I became involved in the local-alternative music scene doing posters for bands and promoters. Moved out to Worcester, Mass in the late 80s and joined the Worcester Artist Group, Inc., a non-profit arts organization as a studio member and eventually became the president. The group offered a non-juried forum for the arts by way of gallery shows, performance space and studio space, Outsider jazz, alternative and punk rock, open stages. We hosted Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to name a few. In 1990 I began doing weekly flyers for Bunratty’s and Green St Station, rock clubs in Boston focusing on national and local underground bands such as Morphine, Buffalo Tom, Wellbabys and the 360s.
I created a 6 week poster series for WFNX and The Boston Phoenix at Citi (now House of Blues) on Lansdowne Street, that was part of the alternative scene breaking through nationally in the summer of 1991. One of the most collectible posters of this run had Pearl Jam as an opening act playing there 2nd show as Pearl Jam. From there I was able to garner national distribution deals of my work on T-shirts, posters and stickers through Liquid Blue, Polygram, Orion and Not Fade Away Inc., that put my artwork in festivals and malls across America for a lot of the 90s. Through this I was able to work with the Grateful Dead and Aerosmith for concert merchandise.
I worked with Don Law’s Tea Party Concerts doing posters through the early 2000s. During this time I was hired by Shop Therapy of Provincetown to be a consultant and graphic designer on their import lines for retail and wholesale and traveled through Asia for several years shopping trade shows and street fairs looking for items and designing packaging. I created several large-scale murals for Shop Therapy retail locations on the Cape. Recently completing a 33 feet long vinyl wrap mural overlooking Commercial Street in Provincetown where I show my paintings and collages in several galleries and shops. You can check out my web site at joeymars.com to see images from the years and recent paintings and illustrations.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have several styles to my work. It has an inspiration and back drop in underground comics and 60s rock poster art. Very much inspired by nature and the mysteries of life. I create a lot of original art for sale on canvas, paper and boards as well as do illustration work for Corporate marketing purposes. Lots of fun animals and strange plants and figures that juxtapose different parts of nature. I enjoy sci fi and political themes. I have created a new line of characters called Cash Money Aliens that is part of a series that recently crested 500 drawings/graphics/collages. It is presented on the website motherlode.tv. It is a push back against the modern day feed of 24 hour cable news insanity. I try to be more absurd than the news taking events and twisting them and mirroring them with hard edits and grotesque characters. I have been using the computer to create collages from physical works of art of mine grabbing abstract areas and turning them into something else and then layering in photographs and distorting levels of reality, color and texture all to try and wrap my mind in a force field from the madness. In my cartooning I believe a constant message is that nature is conscious and we obtain knowledge from Nature. I hope to give people a respite, a mind cleansing, a small break from the daily rigors of life on earth. If I can make people smile or question the dogma I am happy.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what quality do you feel is most helpful?
So many different layers to success. I like the way young and old people can enjoy my work on different levels and find common ground. Love to see my artwork pop up in different parts of the globe and the USA. Essentially you have to keep impressing yourself with your growth. You have to keep that fire burning and harness that desire to create something that makes you say Wow! Sales are super nice as well.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My website is joeymars.com. There you can see my work through the years as well as click on the store to purchase items. I have a gallery presence this summer at Woodman Shimko Gallery in Provincetown, MA. My new mural is available to view at Shop Therapy at 286 Commercial Street in Provincetown as well as my website. I do commissions as well as illustration work, and please check out new and over 500 archived Cash Money Aliens episodes at motherlode.tv
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joeymars.com
- Email: joeymars5000@gmail.com
- Instagram: @joeymarsart
- Facebook: @joeymarsworld
- Twitter: @joeymarsworld
- Other: www.motherlode.tv
Image Credit:
All copyright Joey Mars except the shot of me on porch with mural all around. That photo is by Ann Wood.
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