Interview With
The beauty, the ugly, and the wonders of the seemingly irrelevant. A quick dive to Jack Shure’s mind.
5/17/21
FILE: 0014
Jack Shure
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Tell us about you.
Jack Shure
My name is Jack, I'm an artist from Boulder Colorado.
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Did you start painting at an early age?
Jack Shure
I have been drawing since I was a young child but started oil painting about 9 years ago.
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What’s your studio like?
Jack Shure
It's at the very top of a mountain, tranquil with some pretty awesome views. I share the space with my wife who is also an oil painter.
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Any Daily rituals/routines?
Jack Shure
Paint, meditate, eat healthy food and hang with my dog Chico.
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Who inspires you? Or What inspires you?
Jack Shure
Places I have traveled, dreams I have had, and the wonderful people who support and surround me.
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What sort of music do you listen to?
Jack Shure
Grateful Dead mostly but I also really enjoy hip hop, soul, and folk. Current favorite song: DemonFuzz- Disillusioned man.
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Your work has this unique blend of nostalgia, the classics, and something beyond. What's the story behind this style?
Jack Shure
My work is a distilled reflection of the significant moments, lessons, and inspirations of my life. Pulling imagery from both my childhood, currently, and perhaps the future simultaneously. I want my pictures to tell a story that is not an obvious one, but one that takes a moment of contemplation and discovery while pushing boundaries of ugliness and beauty. It invites the observer to recognize that one cannot exist without the other. To me beauty is a choice by way of transmutation thus, only existing through perception.
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Your older works had an illustration-like cartoony touch to them. Were you really into cartoons when you were younger?
Jack Shure
Yes definitely, mostly comics like Zap. Works by Robert Crumb and Rick Griffin too.
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Cartoons are very different from what they used to be. What do you think of the recent cartoons?
Jack Shure
Not as interesting to me for some reason.
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What sort of cultural phenomenon sparks your interest nowadays?
Jack Shure
Unsung heroes, outlaws, and outcasts.
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It's amazing that the imageries used in your paintings are so seemingly irrelevant to one another, yet makes total sense to you. Do you feel that your personal experiences in life are the backbones of your work?
Jack Shure
Yes, definitely each subject represents something significant even when it appears to be random. The repeating symbols in my work represent special people or moments of my life.
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Do you feel that seemingly-irrelevant-ness is important? Perhaps for the viewer?
Jack Shure
It can be. It gives people a chance to connect the dots in their own unique way while still holding deep personal significance to me.
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Artists tend to be skilled at reflecting back, getting in touch with memories and the past. What's your view on the future? What do you think will happen? or should happen? To you...or the world.
Jack Shure
I try not to have expectations but as far as what I'm looking for in the future is simple, to become a better person and artist.
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Your recent work has lots of cushions/pillows. What's that all about?
Jack Shure
It points towards the continuity between all cultures that use beauty as a language but are all expressing the same thing from different perspectives.
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In your profile, you mentioned that pushing the boundaries of ugliness is equally significant as pushing the boundaries of beauty. Can you explain why?
Jack Shure
I feel it's important to see the dualistic nature of the universe. This is my best way of expressing that.
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How would you define ugliness?
Jack Shure
A different degree of beauty.
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How about beauty?
Jack Shure
A different degree of ugliness.
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2020 has been a pretty dark year, bush fire, COVID-19, the explosion in Beirut, police brutality, etc. What’s your experience so far?
Jack Shure
It has been heavy. It's hard to watch the world suffer but at the same time, I see it has opened space for reflection that the world really needed.
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The art world has been changing a lot during the lockdown period, especially towards the online digital world. What's your view?
Jack Shure
I think it's great, more avenues and opportunities for the community to come together.
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If you could go back in time, what era would you like to explore?
Jack Shure
I have always had an affinity for San Francisco in the late 60s and 70s.
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Tell us a secret!
Jack Shure
I have a baby girl on the way! We will call her Edah.
