About the Artist

Biography

Prior to focusing on his studio practice, JJ Pagani spent twenty years as a digital illustrator in Houston. He is currently in the Glassell School of Art’s BLOCK Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In addition to his studio work, Pagani serves as the Programs Chairman for the Visual Arts Alliance (VAA). In this role, he leads community initiatives, regularly organizing artist visits and group programming with local spaces.

Artist Statement

My paintings tear apart the frivolity of eighteenth-century French painting using abstraction. I deconstruct classical compositions and mythological scenes, stripping away decorative excess to reveal raw material tension.

Figures collapse into landscapes through sensuous handling of material: sweeping brushwork, scraped layers, and dense surfaces. Material seriousness is offset by absurd color and embedding emojis into the paint layers, incorporating a tangible acidity into the process. These paintings happen in a single period of intense attention that could last days or a week.

Once the paint dries, I leave the canvas untouched; the work either succeeds in that moment or it fails. This process offers an unrepeatable record of thought, time and energy invested, capturing that immediate spark of creation.