Meet Jonathan Maya

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jonathan Maya a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jonathan, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

When I was a kid there were a lot of things I wanted to be when I grew up, but I always seemed to come back to art because it was something I knew I could be good at. I had been drawing and writing stories since I could hold a crayon, and I drew every day whenever I had free time, but I didn’t receive any formal training until my junior year of high school when I enrolled in the Visual Arts and Design Academy in Santa Barbara. In the two years I spent there I had many enriching experiences and opportunities honing my craft, it was also a very humbling experience as I was no longer the kid who was good at drawing, I was surrounded by other artists, most of whom were better at drawing than I was. After graduating I wanted to pursue animation at Santa Barbara City College, and while I am grateful for the experiences I had in their program, I soon realized I was majoring in an otherwise dying, if not already dead, artform, all while working a parttime job at an unsavory motel during the night shift. The City College had no transfer agreements with private 4-year art schools, and after one associate degree and three academic counselors later, I had lost the drive to pursue a career in animation and decided to return to drawing. Eventually I was able to quit my night job and work for the Santa Barbara School District in their food service department. I had just begun working on a graphic novel, while not entirely autobiographical, as a vehicle for my frustrations of feeling like my life was going nowhere. The highlight of my days working in the cafeteria were when I would draw on the paper bags we used for the students’ sack lunches, and seeing how much joy my little sharpie drawings of their favorite characters or musicians would bring them always made my day. I even started drawing my original characters on the bags, and one day one of my students gave me a drawing that they did of my character, she was embarrassed by how crude it was, but it meant the world to me. I don’t know what ever happened to this student, but I still have that drawing, my first fanart, framed in my studio, and that drawing is what inspired me to pursue a career as an illustrator, and the fact that something I created had inspired someone to bring something out of nothing into the world is what continues to drive me to this day.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Blue roses do not exist in nature and have come to represent that impossible dream, or unattainable goal, and in some legends even grant wishes. I believe my art, whether it be paintings, graphic novels, logo designs or even art that I’ve gifted to friends, is the purest expression of myself and my psyche when words aren’t enough, as well as a form of catharsis. Under my brand “Blue Rose” The majority of my works have a storyline or follow an overarching narrative across multiple works, usually inspired by my own life experiences. I have experimented with many different styles and mediums over the years, usually exploring darker themes such as death, loneliness, violence and pain, but I always strive to also highlight themes of life, romance, sensuality and healing. My most recent works reflect my attempt to bridge my love of paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods with my interests in Mexican murals and Chicano tattoo art, while also being heavily influenced by the works of William Blake and Gustav Klimt. I am also working on a trilogy of paintings inspired by the music and artistry of the band My Chemical Romance, and I am planning to launch a line of t-shirts with my designs sometime in the next year.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Over the years I’ve met a lot of kids who want to learn to draw and become artists in some capacity, and I always give them the same advice: to be an artist and not just someone who draws, you need three things. You will need courage, honesty, and the confidence of a lousy singer at karaoke night. This can also apply to any form of art, be it music, poetry or acting. It takes courage to put pen to paper, many people cannot seem to bring themselves to even do that. When I used to give drawing lessons to first timers, I would instruct them to draw a line or a simple shape like a circle or triangle, and once that was over, I would congratulate them and say, “you can draw!” and continue from there. After courage comes honesty; more often than not, the audience can tell when they’re being manipulated, but when a creator is being courageous and honestly expressing themselves through their art, that can allow them to better connect with the audience and tap into experiences and feelings that us as humans all share or have shared at one time or another. This can also bring a timelessness to a work that can make it resonate with the audience even long after the creator’s death. And finally, I jokingly say “confidence of a lousy singer” rather than just “self-confidence,” but I like to use my mom as an example, for as long as I can remember my mom could never carry a tune but that has not once hindered her from breaking into song any chance she got, and I truly wish that kind of confidence on anyone who aspires to create great works of art and tell their stories to the world, no matter what.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Having come out of the Covid lockdowns with a new set of paintings I was looking forward to returning to the galleries and conventions, only to have been rendered homeless after my studio flooded during the storms that hit Santa Barbara in January 2023. I had to move back with my parents and delve into a very dark place mentally as I couldn’t make art for 6 months, and while I eventually found a new home and place to set up shop, it was a very difficult and emotional transition and I was fortunate to have gotten through it with the support of my family and close friends, but I still had no direction as far as furthering my career as an artist as there just didn’t seem to be any new opportunities in Santa Barbara after the pandemic. One year after the flood I get a message from Los Angeles based artist, Anna Sutton, a.k.a. M.A.P.S.LA inviting me to exhibit at The Goddess Mercado art walk in East LA, where the organizers and local artists have welcomed me with open arms. 12 months later, through the connections I’ve made with my new friends I have exhibited almost every 2nd Saturday at the mercado, had my art hanging in 4 different reputable galleries, sold original pieces, been involved in large scale community art projects, and I’m now a resident artist in the Hive Gallery in downtown LA. One year earlier I never would have believed any of this was possible, sometimes I still can’t wrap my head around how much has changed, and how much I’ve changed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blueroseart.carbonmade.com
• Instagram: @blueroseartwork