Chaotic Utopia Magazine

Online art publication, Chaotic Utopian Mag published an interview with me about the themes and influence of my art. Thanks for the kind words! You can read the interview here: 

New website!

I did a BIG - and very necessary - revamp of my website recently. I would love to know what you think. You can check it out here: http://www.jonodoiron.com/

Thanks!

THAT LAUGH! - collection photo

 Pret-ty cool! My painting 'THAT LAUGH!', hanging in it's new home! (And yes, that's a Warhol on the left and Basquait on the right!)

CKUT 90.3FM - The Friday Morning After, Feb. 26, 2016

A follow-up interview on Montreal station CKUT 90.3FM, Louis-Bernard St-Jean, Denise Buisman-Pilger and I did yesterday about our experience at The Artist Project in Toronto and upcoming upcoming involvement in YES Montreal's business conference on March 14th.

You can listen to it here: http://archives.ckut.ca/128/20160226.08.00-09.00.mp3 (starts @ 35:42)

CKUT 90.3FM - The Friday Morning After, Feb. 12, 2016

Here is an interview conducted yesterday by Christine Claire Deita of CKUT 90.3FM radio show, The Friday Morning After, between myself, along with artists and friends Denise Buisman Pilger & Louis-Bernard St-Jean discussing the upcoming The Artist Project, an art fair in Toronto we're exhibiting in next week! 

You can listen to the interview here (starts at 34:04)

XXI (21th Century) art auction at IEGOR

Tomorrow night, I have two works in an auction called 'XXI' (21st Century) at IEGOR, international auction house, featuring only contemporary works. You can join us and 'get your bid on', or check out all the available works from the show by clicking the image above.

Also, I'm sending out a new newsletter tomorrow. If you want updates before anyone else, you can sign up here: http://bit.ly/1vauKPv

Cereal Siege essay

It's finally out! I'm excited to share the process with you I undertook to create the painting Cereal Siege. My Thoughts & Process booklets document the concept up to all the drawing and process necessary to create the final paintings. Each booklet begins with an essay chronicling where the idea came from. You can read the essay for Cereal Siege in it's entirety below:

Click here for more info and to pick up your copy of the booklet.

When I was a child, I fondly remember the sugary breakfast cereal commercials. Wild, colorful, entertaining and often far better animated then the shows they were interrupting.

It's always remained a large state of bewilderment to me that healthy cereals never adopted the same successful campaign methods as their sugary brethren. Why not a cartoon determined to attain nutritious vitamin enriched cereal? Engaging cartoon personalities used to sell product has brilliantly worked every generation since it's inception - it's marketing gold. Such marketing methods have operated my consumer choices to this very day. (Even products I have yet to buy! What automotive tire company do I plan to commit my loyalty to? I'll give you a hint: they have a mascot.)

My Mom, a nutritionist among other practices, would never buy any of that sugary shit. The closest she ever came was Rice Crispies or Shreddies. Both of which do contain sugar, but not as blatantly as other contenders. Visiting the cereal aisle in my youth, was like an art gallery to me.  My rampant irrational desire to meet real life cartoon characters was brought to close proximity. I saw them on TV, and there they were! Buying (my parents did the buying) products with cartoon characters on them felt to me like I was initiated into their world. In reality, I was introducing them into mine.   

The greatest influence for the painting Cereal Siege actually did not directly come from a cartoon character though. Neither was it triggered by breakfast cereal. One of the bleakest times in recorded human history is the bubonic plague (or, 'Black Death' as it's also called) that devastated Europe and erased a third of the world's population. During this grim time, doctors (and some later to be found charlatan's posing as doctors) wearing a long cloak, rimed hat and a beak like mask containing purifying herbs were committed to aid the population ridden with the harsh symptoms. 

I always loved that costume. I was intrigued by the history behind it and found it far more foreboding then the traditional image of the grim reaper. This was a grim reaper who actually existed.   

Because of my restless cartoon influence, the more I looked at illustrations of the attire, the more I associated it with clothing articles of breakfast cereal cartoon characters. It started with the mask: I thought 'what if this character had a beak like Toucan Sam?'. His hat was not far in resemblance from Lucky, the Lucky Charms mascot either.  I gave him Frankenberry's goggles, Snap's scarf and Captian Crunch's modified overcoat. Instead of a cane, the obvious decision was give him a large cereal spoon.

That would make an interesting character to paint - but it wasn't enough. I asked myself: 'What would be the REASON for this character to exist?. What environment could he possibly be the product of and why would his services be required?'   

A painting like Cereal Siege can become kind of editorial, so I do research to determine if there is any truth to what I am trying to say. What are the dangers of sugary cereal? Effects include feeling hungrier (once blood sugar levels fall back down) which can lead to building a dependency and a lack of concentration. Sugar is an addictive substance. It can be hard to quit because it's in nearly everything and is perfectly legal. I also found a CBS News listing for the 10 most (worst) sugary cereals and chose to reference as  many from the list in the final painting (either through the central character's uniform, the landscape the mascots themselves). The final painting presents a world where those effects have taken place with the result ultimately open ended. It's ambiguous whether Sugar Bear is dead, sick or strung out. The central character, the 'Breakfast Beak Doctor', is he there to help him, kill him, report him?

Cereal Siege is also a noteworthy painting for me, because it was made under the guidance of professional illustrator, Charles Vinh. SynStudio is an art school in Montreal where Charles teaches and offers classes in traditional and digital art. The class I took with Charles was called Illustrative Painting.  The class taught pragmatic steps for the development of narrative imagery used by classical illustrators. An entire class on how to plan your work so you can achieve your best work. The stages were already quite aligned with my painting process anyway - but you can always learn more efficient ways to do things. I certainly learned some invaluable steps that will advance my future paintings.

Cereal Siege is a painting I was planning to do anyway, but had not yet begun, so I chose to pursue it for Charles' class. It was completed in March and I'm convinced the result is much better than I would have achieved on my own. What follows in this booklet is all the effort that went into making the final image. Eat up!

-Jono Doiron

Montreal, June 2014   

Thoughts & Progress promo booklet bundle!

Work continues to offer you my best quality and highest insight in the Thoughts & Progress booklets of the 2 new paintings. But if you're all antsy and can't wait until they're official ready, you can pre-order here at a special rate and receive a FREE convention booklet! You can see some of the concept art included in the books below:

RAW Montreal interview from the event SPECTRUM on April 26

Happy June! Here is the finished video interview I did with RAW Montreal about my work from their SPECTRUM show on April 26: 

TONIGHT - April 26, 2014 - SPECTRUM art show!

So TONIGHT is the night of SPECTRUM, a large collaborative art show hosted by the Montreal division of RAW! I will be exhibiting two brand new paintings along with some recent works and prints at a discount. You can find more info about the show and pick up your ticket here:
http://rawartists.org/montreal/spectrum/?artist=208095

Also, here is an interview I did recently with painting collective En Masse about my art:
http://enmasse.info/interview-with-jono-dorion/

You can find more about En Masse here:  http://enmasse.info/about/

Feature on Wondereur!

THANK YOU Wondereur and Andy Nulman (http://andynulman.com/) for the excellent featured interview! Wondereur is an award-winning online publication that combines photojournalism with the experience of buying art.  

You can experience the interview here: http://wondereur.com/

(Scroll down and click on one of the images for sale, then click on the 'Enter Story' for the rest of the experience.)

You can learn more about Wondereur here: http://wondereur.com/?view=about-wondereur

You can download the app FOR FREE on your mobile device here:   https://search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZContentLink.woa/wa/link?mt=8&path=apps%2fwondereurinc

This photo (and all photos from the shoot) was taken by photographer Dario Ayala. You can see more of Dario's captivating work at: http://darioayalaphoto.com/features.php#

“It is beautiful! From the intuitiveness, artist bios, photos and art work, I felt immediately connected to the artists in a personal way - getting to know their quirks, deep dreams and desires for self expression. I felt I had been let into a personal space that few are allowed. Very cool. Very thoughtful.”

— Wondereur user from Australia

FREE Saint Felix Thoughts & Progress booklets!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my Canadian friends! I have a very special promo on my online store right now: I'm giving away FREE signed Thoughts & Progress: Saint Felix booklets until October 27! All you pay is shipping - THAT'S IT.

I've worked hard creating the image and compiling the booklet and would love to share the process with you! I also welcome your feedback on how I can continue to improve these booklets.

You can order your booklet here: http://jonodoironstudio.storenvy.com/products/2937837-free-thoughts-progress-booklet-saint-felix