Jon Arvizu has been a staple of the of the commercial art industry for the last 15 years both as artist and Illustrator running his successful design business, Trapdoor Studio.
You have seen his work around the valley, creating brilliant commercial art for some clients including the NFL, Netflix, Popular Science Magazine, Frito Lay, Yum!, Procter & Gamble, Dole and Oregano's Pizza Bistro. He creates silkscreens, coasters, posters, letterpress, patches, fine art and more. His work is inspired by his love of midcentury advertising and iconic pop culture imagery. The golden age of design and illustration for America was between 1930-1970, says Arvizu who insists this was a truly fleeting time and still fuels his work today. He compares his vast variety of work to walking through and exploring a thrift store, no specific style yet identified due to the multiplicity of iconic imagery and inspiration from High Art, Abstract, Modern, Folk and the list just keeps going! "My art is familiar, accessible, an immediate payoff for the viewer”, says Arvizu.
Arvizu is always honing his skills and expanding his knowledge of various production methods and even takes and teaches classes to stay at the top of his game. His work includes large format Monoscreen printmaking, Letterpress print, printmaking, Giclées and Paintings. What are monoscreen prints you ask? Well they are delicate hand drawn and cut paper stencils that are applied to each print in layers combined with a wide variety of richly colored screen printing inks, and then printed. Recently he has created some incredible silkscreens including iconic images of Phoenix, portraits, architecture and even vintage Volkswagens, as seen in “Phoenix Oethal”, “El Sequestrador”, “Arcosanti” and “Barndoor”.
He was recently included on the prestigious “Phoenix New Times 100 Creatives List” and exhibited his work at Modified Arts in an intriguing group exhibition “Independents’ Week” this past July. Also Arvizu launched a new online store at trapdoorstudio.com, which includes his handmade and silkscreen prints and you can find some of his pieces available at local store Modern Manor. Next up for Arvizu his work will be exhibited at Willo North Gallery in exhibition titled “Pop, Prints & More!” along with friends and fellow artists Scott Wolf and Jeremy Yocum. This exhibition aims to offer a fresh perspective on printmaking, design, and painting while engaging senses through dynamic and bold works and humorous lens. Be sure to stop by and check out his work and this exciting exhibition at Willo North Gallery located at 2811 N. 7th Ave Phoenix. "Pop, Prints & More!" will be on view until October 31, 2014. For more information Jon Arvizu please visit: trapdoorstudio.com and http://www.jonarvizu.com/.
Jon Arvizu Portrait by Zach Ishmael
