Beech Tree News Network

You might say Jason Jones’ art career got off to a bit of a slow start.  “I applied to, like, six graduate schools.  I got rejected by all of them.  I think I learned quick I don’t know if I fit into the fine art world, the gallery scene”.  Jones was undeterred.  He painted kids’ bedrooms, corporate backdrops for Walmart conventions, and lots of murals throughout his hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas.  

One day, after years of trying to break through, something unexpected happened.  “Just coming from that poor background, you’re always trying to find the cheapest option to make your art”, he says.  Jones bought an old second-hand painting, planning to just use the frame when, for some reason, he felt compelled to add his own personal touch.  He added a robot, yes, a robot, to old prints.  He says as soon as he posted it on Instagram, people were lining up to buy it.  That was new for him back then.  These days, he makes his living selling his “altered thrift store art”, as he calls it.  

“Most of this is just being thrown out.  It feels like they’re just these little orphans that I can give them a home, a new life and send them back out in the world”, Jones says.  His originals can go from $800-$1200, depending on the size and the complexity.  The modifications can be ominous, silly, or even cathartic after being brought up in a deeply religious home.  

“I think, like, learning that being on the spectrum has a new angle.  I would seriously get anxiety just looking at pictures of Jesus (because it brought back anxious childhood feelings worrying if he was going to heaven or hell)”.  Jones says paintings of Jesus Christ are by far and away the most common form of thrift store art he encounters.  When asked if he got people coming up to him saying “how dare you” because he will add, for instance, a bubble to the right of Jesus’ head with a cheeseburger in the bubble, Jones says “sometimes it’s an older person that’ll give me a dirty look but I haven’t had anyone just get really angry and yell at me.  Mostly it’s someone telling me their trauma or we’ll just have long conversations”.

Jones isn’t the only artist out there adding new images to old ones. There are lots of examples of people adding pop-culture updates to existing works.  In case you’re wondering, most of the artists making these altered works say they are parodies.  Their fan art is protected under free speech.  Some artists have even been commissioned by companies to use their trademarks, the ultimate intersection of art and commerce.  Jason Jones hasn’t been approached by any big companies for big money yet.  But that’s okay.  He’s just happy to get to make his living painting.  He says if he does his job right, people might not even realize he was ever there.  “I think of it as almost, like, jokes.  And the subtlety is almost like the timing of the joke.  So, if you get it just right, the timing just hits.  I’ve done art shows where people walk by my booth thinking I’m just selling restored art.  On their second or third pass, they’ll walk into my booth and they’re like “oh”.

This story appeared on the June 22 edition of CBS Sunday morning, authored by Luke Burbank. 

Here is the link to my most recent vlog, recorded June 24: https://youtu.be/1M3_1vWRZjE?si=RbUvifqju0Ujwsf-