Meet Joey Salamon | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joey Salamon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joey, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
In my experience, risk taking can be one of the greatest factors towards the development of growth. By taking a risk you also put a challenge on yourself, one of which you have not previously attempted for any multitude of reasons, fear typically being one of them. Once you have decided to take a risk, several outcomes from that decision are put in place, many of which steer in either a positive or negative position from where you were previously. By identifying risks where your skills and confidence shine, you may set yourself up for a challenge in unfamiliar territory, but ingenuity and creative problem solving coupled with determination and willpower often leads to a rewarding new experience that you would not have had otherwise. As a visual artist, one would think that risk taking, being adventurous in your work and experimentation is basically part of the job, but this isn’t necessarily true. In many cases, being a successful artist means developing a well-identifiable style or approach to your work that sells and then replicating works in that same mold over and over again. In my own personal practice, I’ve found that the risk of consistently evolving my art through medium, subject matter and functionality has opened up the possibilities of what I want to do with my work and what I want it to say. Each time you switch up what you are doing you risk alienating your audience, however it could also open up other doors that lead to improved work. In my twelve years working as an artist, I’ve bounced from primarily creating screen printed gig posters for bands and musicians to painting wall murals to painting massive road art installations to interior designing restaurants to now just recently learning how to airbrush paint for smaller works. In each of these jumps, or switched focuses, I had very minimal experience in what I was doing, but the willpower and skills I possessed to figure out how to make successful work made the risk more tangible and my confidence that I could pull it off greater.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As mentioned, my artwork spans several different mediums and functions, but much of my work does involve the use of bright colors and geometric shapes in a meticulously detailed manner. I’m most proud of just being able to have a career where I can use my creativity and have people interested in investing in it for themselves in some form or manner. I’ve managed to get to where I am today with a lot of hard work and the determination to just keep creating. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s always been rewarding. I’ve learned that you will be told “no” way more often than you will be told “yes,” if you’re offered a dream project put your heart and soul into it and always be grateful of those who support you and those who have helped you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Oak Park, MI just outside of Detroit. For someone visiting the area there is a ton of different options for exploring. Those unfamiliar with Detroit still tend to hold negative connotations with the city and those people also tend to be uninformed and lame. For eating my favorites include Ima, Johnny Noodle King, Chartruse, One Eyed Betty’s, The Fly Trap and my partner’s restaurant group, Bobcat Bonnie’s – probably a biased recommendation, but I do genuinely love it. For drinks I like a good dive bar or something chill, I’d recommend McShane’s, Old Miami, LJ’s Lounge, SOHO and UFO Factory. One thing I love about Detroit is the architecture, there are many beautiful buildings that are worth checking out, two of which I would recommend would be the Fisher Building and the Guardian Building. Check out a concert at the Masonic Temple, grab a beer at Batch Brewing, go bar hoping in Hamtramck (one of two small cities completely surrounded by the city of Detroit.), find a cool treasure at John King Books and go look at the murals in Eastern Market.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My partner Matt Buskard has always been a huge supporter of my work and continues to push me towards doing my best in everything I do. We both have big goals and dreams and it feels good to be each others’ cheerleader in life.

Website: https://www.joeysalamon.art
Instagram: @joeysalamon

Image Credits
Image credits: @denovorealestate, @gerardbelevender, @emadrashidi, Tom Sealy media