JASON MONET SPEAKS

(1938-2009)

INTRODUCTION:   ==============  Born in Britain, Jason lived in many  countries including Malta and Australia.  He lived some 16 years in  Ubud, Bali (4 more years than Donald  Friend).  Friend lived in Sanur by the coast, while  Monet lived in Ubud, the artists' village.  His art qualifications come from the  Christopher Wren Technical School  and the London School of Printing and  Graphic Art. He was a full-time painter,  sculptor and draftsman, with a firm,  inspired commitment to the South East  Asian palette and subject matter. His  painting style varies from being  expressionist, colourist and  strong in line- design realism.  He has had many international exhibitions.  Jason Monet has a website-  a must see for the wonderful colours.  http://www.jasonmonet.com

Jason at work on the painting Sun Bleached Sawah Sun Bleached Sawah, West Bali, 2001  Oil on canvas, 90 x 110cm

THE ART BEGINNINGS- SALES, SIDE-JOBS
and RELATIONSHIPS:

===============

CHRIS: When did you decide that the artist's life offered you what you
really wanted?
JASON: I had started drawing at a very young age. I loved animals.
We lived in a small flat in London and couldn't keep animals.
The only animals I could keep were frogs. I love frogs and toads.
Luckily enough, the Natural History Museum was very near where we lived.
From the age of seven I used to go into the Natural History Museum and
draw the animals and catalogue them. I drew the stuffed animals,
skeletons and everything because I was madly in love with animals.
I was a late starter; I wasn't interested in anything else except drawing.
Even at a young age, I could capture the character of a person, what they
really looked like, as opposed to doing ‘a pretty picture’. 

Right from the very beginning till now,  I don't try to capture a pretty picture, I try to  capture what is there to the best of my ability.  In Commercial Art School we had a fantastic  life-class teacher. We had 5 or 6 compulsory  life classes a week. For the drawing aspect -  we did lots of drawings like London street  scenes. We spent half a day in the British  Museum, copied tapestries, and Egyptian  wall-paintings and stuff like that.  It was all to do with commercial art.  It was excellent training for drawing and  very strict- extremely strict. I'm glad  I didn't study Fine Arts.  I started really painting when I was in the  British Army, painting murals.  I studied commercial art prior to going  into the army. There was excitement  when I re-started painting.  Then I got a job as an assistant manager in the  Hotel Club, but was able to paint murals and  landscapes. I was about 21. This was 1961.  I started full time from then on.

French Charlie, 2001  Oil on canvas, 70 x 50cm

CHRIS: And your family was supportive of your vocation?
JASON: Yeah. It was real support. It was quite incredible though because they did not understand.
Eventually I had a group exhibition, and my mother was asked which one she liked the best.
She chose an abstract; I didn't do abstracts, so she really didn't understand what I was doing.
Yet she knew that I was doing what I wanted to do. My mother and brothers were very, very supportive. 

CHRIS When did you sell your first picture?
JASON: Oh My God! It was a commercial thing. I did a black and white drawing for an
exhibition stand in London. I remember that I got twelve pounds for it.
It was a blow up of where the surgeons were operating. It was a big huge black and white.
It wasn't until I got into the army that I started selling the drawings which I did at art school.

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