Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Serrano.
Juan, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Art had presented itself to me in different ways. The most impactful form of art that influenced me when I was a kid was street art and anime. Street art was everywhere, the fact that I had access to their street portfolio made me feel like, “I can do that shit too.” Anime was the second piece to the puzzle, late at night, when my family was asleep, I would watch late night anime shows, from the stolen cable box, and I would try to replicate or re-imagine what I had seen on the T.V onto the paper.
I was trying to work on more graffiti drawings because that’s what my crew was into. Long story short, they told me I was fucking terrible at letters and that I should stick to my characters. So I just started putting my characters out.
People use to tell me how great I was as an artist but I knew I could do better. I would challenge myself to draw and create new characters. When graduated high school and began to, “adult” I had less time to be an artist. I was miserable, working overtime and barely having time to myself. I would just work, eat, go home, sleep and repeat. Until, Jasso, my best friend in grammar school, reconnected with me. He brought over a box of markers and we started sketching. He told me something I needed to hear, “Yo, your characters are fucking dope!” with that alone I started focusing on drawing characters and teaching myself the human anatomy. Later that year I quit my miserable job and started working part-time somewhere else and stay as a full-time artist.
Jasso later introduced me to some of the greatest people I’ve ever meet, Pablo and Teresa who are owners of a small art gallery (Pilsen Outpost) that focused on helping neighborhood artist get their art sold, shown and get connections. I started doing art shows with them and kept on wheat-pasting characters to humor people in this dark world we live in.
The rest is history.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m currently doing different wheat-pasting projects across Pilsen and Little Village. In a sense, it’s like posting huge stickers to concrete walls.
I use butchers paper, because it’s cheap and it comes in a huge roll, you can make small to huge pieces of work. I believe the biggest one I’ve done was 8ft x 6ft pug with a birthday cone hat.
In this dark and gloomy times, I usually paint funny pop culture stuff to lighten up people’s daily commute. When I see look at my work and giggle for even a second, I feel like my job is done. I hope people get a more positive and cheerful artwork on the wall instead of gang-related art or empty walls.
How can artists connect with other artists?
Just get out there! Go to gallery opening and mingle with other artist. Sooner or later you would be invited to join them in drink and draws and make more friends next thing you know you have your own art solo exhibition!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Currently, I use Instagram for everything. I post almost daily of new art and merchandise for sale. The best way to support is, to tag me in my work you find in the neighborhood, repost my art, and (of course) buying merchandise.
My Instagram handle is @action_street_art
and my email is actionartschicago@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Email: actionartschicago@gmail.com
- Instagram: action_street_art
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