J MASKREY

On the surface I see chaos — war, the tremor of politics, climate change, endangered animals, excessive deforestation, and the list goes on. However, when I search beyond the surface, our world is beautiful, ancient and abundant beyond the touch of man. I have been immersed in a diverse and complex world since my childhood. Born to a British father and Malaysian mother, I was raised in Hong Kong. As a teenager, I went to boarding school in Australia. My cultural background was very different from the rest of my classmates and I grew feeling quite lonely and isolated.

I found solace in art class, painting and sculpting. I intended on studying art at university; however, following a path encouraged by my mother, I enrolled in more traditional and practical subjects at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. In the late 1990’s London called. I missed my ‘artistic’ self but still under the sway of my mother who did not approve of my wanting to paint, I enrolled in a certificate course for make up artists. If I could not paint on a canvas, I can paint on people’s faces instead. For the next decade, I enjoyed a successful career as a make-up artist and a fashion designer. My work took me all over the world, interpreting history from multiple perspectives.

In 2019, I moved to Los Angeles. As the pandemic took hold in early 2020, I finally allowed myself to immerse in my passion for painting. I enrolled in a painting certificate course at UC Berkeley. In 2024, I completed the Post Baccalaureate program in Visual Arts at UC Berkeley and was accepted into the MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I am currently painting, painting, painting…….. J Maskrey