ARTIST STATEMENT
While much of my work embodies a patchwork of pop culture and rebellious controversy, I never forget my sense of humor as I'm swinging my brush like it's a sword for social justice. I'm somewhere between Don Quixote with a paintbrush for a lance and Mark Twain with that same painter's saber for a pen. My intention is to poke holes in every symbol that needs a bit of light to shine through. Iconoclastic satire is my modus operandi. The primary focus of my work is to harness the evocative power of dissonant images to punch the viewer in the chest; reach right in and tug. Make someone laugh or cry. To make them angry or at the very least to provoke thought. It's impossible for someone not to bring their own ideas and feelings to the image. Always a story. Always passion. Always a challenge or a chuckle. If my work evokes more than an aesthetic response then it has done its duty.
ARTIST BIO
A graduate of the prestigious American Academy of Art, J.J. Weinberg holds his degree in the discipline of illustration but claims that the tutelage of Dr. Trapp lead him to value the advancement of figure drawing as one of the most powerful skills an artist can develop.
In 2015,Weinberg's painting “Midas’ Love - The Gold Kisser” was awarded the Grand Prize in the first city-wide Pop-Up art festival in Valparaiso, Indiana. The painting is now a part of Valparaiso’s downtown art installation in the form of a utility box wrap at the corner of Napoleon and Lincolnway. Shortly thereafter, Libby Chiu (current chair for Indiana Arts Commission and former National Endowment for the Arts) nominated him for the Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellows award in 2016.
Weinberg was able to raise $100K over 3 angel investors including; Theresa Fette (Top 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs - FORTUNE), Sean Ono, and developer Revelry. He was then able to do a local launch of the prototype of his mobile platform called Artunity."Donate to an artist for a chance to win a work of art, Artunity is like Instagram meets GoFundMe with a Las Vegas Twist.", Weinberg says. Art unit recently won the People's Choice award for Startup of the Year in New Orleans and has been juried in as one of the top 100 Startups to gather again in Memphis in October 2019.
In late 2016, after painting the 30x40 Chicago Cubs “Field of Dreams” for his Dad, Weinberg posted a video of his reaction to the gift that went viral. It was featured in the press from Chicago Tribune and NBC to being highlighted on SportsCenter’s Top Plays. He leveraged the national press to sell prints and began on the path of using the energy of the image for charity. One such donation was to the Special Olympics and his jumping in on the Polar Plunge at 4 Winds Field where he was honored as one of the Top 100 donors in the state and the Top Individual Fundraiser.
Among smaller charity events around NW Indiana, Weinberg has been involved with many Cubs charities and donated paintings to events with Tom Ricketts (Cubs Owner), Grant Deporter (owner Harry Caray’s Restaurant), Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Kyle Schwarber, Ron Santo Jr., Kerry Wood, and most recently Wilson Contreras.