IPaintMyMind Exclusive Interview: Tim Jarosz

TJ: I definitely like the use of color in my work. For the most part, the color of the artwork is true to life, but just greatly enhanced. I feel it’s the way the buildings are collaged together that really makes the colors stand out. Of course, the colors are enhanced but I just try to emphasize what’s already there.

IPMM: Nice man. Your art really goes way beyond those pieces though. Is there any medium you feel most at home in, or is it more about finding different ways of expressing creative ideas?

TJ: Well, I have always been very serious about both photography and design. I graduated art school with a degree in graphic design and still had an extreme passion for photography. I worked as professional graphic designer for years before deciding to expand my skills and take on a new venture in photography. I quit my design job and started freelancing in photography. Not long after I found an amazing photography career where I have the ability to shoot photos and still create artwork in my free time. I’m pumped that I get to work with both those mediums on a daily basis.

IPMM: The photography on your site, particularly of Chicago, is ground level gritty. Are you originally from here? What draws you to the street from a photographic viewpoint?

TJ: Yes, I was born in Chicago on the Northwest side. I just want my street photographs to represent what I see everyday and what I think is beautiful. I like to photograph the people, graffiti, spaces and details that are passed by or ignored everyday. I try to capture images of candid moments in time that are pure and unscripted. Even though some of my photography is a bit dark or sad, I feel it is still beautiful.

IPMM: Yea, it’s definitely hopeful. Your “Walls” collection is also great. I have a fascination with them myself. It’s a texture thing for me. You?

TJ: Yes, it’s the mixture of texture and color that attracts my eye. I think that urban walls are interesting. I love how the city will cover up graffiti and street art with a shitty square of some ugly color as a solution. In my eye it makes it worse, but I do like the compositions and contrasts they create.

IPMM: What’s one skill you don’t have that you reeeeaaallly wish you did have?

TJ: I really wish I could work more with screen-printing. I truly enjoy it. I got into it a bit in college, but since have kinda fell off. I just don’t have the equipment needed to keep up with it. But who knows, maybe in the future.

IPMM: What have you been working on as of late?

TJ: I always feel that my projects are never really finished, so most of them are currently still on-going. I do have trips planned to New York and San Francisco in the next couple of months to shoot some photography. Hopefully by next year I will have a new cityscape series for each of those cities. Keep your eye out for that. I am also messing with the idea of a series focused on old 50’s type motel signs, we’ll see though.

IPMM: Nice man, we’ll keep an eye out. And finally, name one artist or musician that IPMM readers should check out.

TJ: Oh man… Umm, check out EMANCIPATOR.