A Venezuelan Artist's Creativity Takes Flight in Central Florida

Written by: Gianna Gonzalez

José José Gonzalez Acosta, better known as “JJ,” is a mixed-media artist based in Orlando. Originally from Valencia, Venezuela, he immigrated in 2017 to Central Florida, where he now runs JJ Art & Design Productions and teaches art to a range of ages and abilities through Central Florida Community Arts Academy (CFCArts). JJ’s solo exhibition, “Portraits Collection: The Side We All See,” is currently showing at the Eatonville Branch of the Orange County Public Library through the end of April 2021.

Coming from a family of painters, JJ started painting at age 5.

“When other children were playing with superhero action figures and sports, I played with paintbrushes instead,” he recalls.

Enthralled with how artists can create vivid images from formless masses, he watched his mother, who was also a painter, molding clay figurines of dancers and mermaids. It was a context of general scarcity, and JJ learned to make innovative use of any available materials for his art.

He eventually studied at the Arturo Michelena School of Fine Arts in Valencia, where he mastered traditional painting with acrylics on canvas and began experimenting with hybrid forms of sculpture.

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of JJ’s art is his recurring motif of butterflies. His canvases often include these three-dimensional figures, which resemble paper origami although they are molded in clay, and they seem to rise from the two-dimensional backgrounds as if in flight.

The ancient art of folded paper origami and the fragile, ephemeral insect meet in the more durable medium of clay in JJ’s art. The fundamental connection between butterflies and metamorphosis offers a productive metaphor for JJ’s representation of his home country in its ongoing social and political upheaval:

“Butterflies represent transformation for Venezuela,” he says, “with a hopeful picture for the future of the country and its people.”

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His mixed-media canvases frequently incorporate the principal colors of the Venezuelan tricolor flag. White butterflies, akin to the stars of the flag, soar upward in freedom from backgrounds of blue, red, and yellow. When JJ paints portraits of individuals from other countries, his butterflies take on the colors of the flags of their countries of origin.

JJ sees himself as a Venezuelan artist fundamentally, but a Venezuelan artist who is ready to adapt to new contexts in the United States. Here he has found greater opportunities to represent political and cultural leaders, as well as greater economic opportunities to use his artistic talents as a viable way to support himself and his family. “Art,” he reflects, “can be read in any language.”

JJ is proud to have his art exhibited at several prominent locations locally and internationally, including installations in San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Madrid, Quito, Guayaquil, and Caracas. For more information about his work visit his website: www.jjartanddesign.com