Interview with JR Rapier

JR Rapier, a professional artist living in between Austin, TX and Taos, NM, naturally gravitated to drawing and painting as a child. Gradually through her life she grew more incumbent with her talent as a painter. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts awarded from Texas Tech University in 1996, she spent 20 years art directing print and web campaigns in the spirit of design and illustration. Since her former husband’s untimely death in 2014 she has dedicated her talent to her painting career full time. Rapier’s earliest inspiration comes from Georgia O’Keefe. While O’Keefe is still her top favorite, she is inspired by the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and Henri de Toulouse-Lantrec. Rapier vividly illustrates the power of spirituality through a poetic style of her own. She explores the human condition, inner child fantasies, and landscape themes by capturing the innate beauty through magnifying light, color and structure. Rapier’s spiritual practice initiates her drive to illustrate her own personal strives and experiences you can see in her work today. Currently, her work is showing and represented in Austin by Art for the People Gallery, Wonderwall Studios, and Keep Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can also find her original works online with Saatchi Art and Singulart. You can purchase originals and reproductions of all her work through her website at jrrapier.com Rapier also has shown her work in various national juried competitions, and at international art fairs around the world.

How would you describe yourself and your artwork?

As an artist, describing who I am has always been a struggle, but as I learn to get to know myself my best description would be that I am a transcendentalist of sorts. I believe there is so much in the world that we cannot see with our eyes, but instead feel with our heart and soul. I connect to nature and the spiritual realm easily and always have. I find that the ideas and creativity that come to me come from a divine source, and my craft is merely bringing them to our vision. My art is a tangible manifestation of the idea that energy forces exist within us, around us and through one another. I like to label them as portraits of the human condition. My art represents a collection of beings, some fantasy, some more realistic looking than others, and an expression of emotion and moments in time. I paint with oils on canvas, and I love using a unique palette of contrasting hues.

How do you go about beginning a new piece? Do you have an idea already in mind, or do you start working with materials or sketches to find the departure point?

It is usual for me to have the image in my mind before I sit down to paint. The image follows me like a child that wants to play. The image is vivid and usually comes to me in a dream or a vision. Sometimes I sketch the image, sometimes I go straight to the canvas. It all depends on how urgent the image needs to be seen. The images I receive are in tune with my present awareness or state of mind.

When do you think your most prolific time of day or week is?

Early mornings are most clear for me to jump into my driving forces of metabolizing or processing what I feel must be manifested. My inspiration comes and goes but if I’m on a role I will spend days and hours at a time painting my vision.

What is a barrier you as an artist overcame? Is there anything that enabled you to develop your work as an artist in your life?

Self-doubt and confidence most definitely have been in the way of my own perseverance. Learning how to shut down negative self-talk about my artistic talent took years of practice. Accepting more and more that it is okay to let others see the dark and light themes in my art was and still is a part of accepting my own human conditioning. Developing my own sovereignty has been both a spiritual path and a living journey. Making art is a very personal expression and sharing my art with the world used to be a fearful endeavour. Today I care less about what people think, and more about the joy of expressing myself. Knowing that my art moves people and draws people in to relate to is the wind in my sail.

Did you have an idea of what you wanted to create right from the beginning?

Once upon a time making beautiful art for my own home was my initial intention. In the beginning, I worked as an art director for advertising for 20 years. 10 years ago, I experienced a string of tragic life events, and because of that my perception changed about what I wanted to do with my life. It became clear to me then that life was too short not to live out my life creating what I’ve always dreamed of doing, and that was to paint for a living — to be the artist that I have dreamt of being since I was a child.

What is the meaning or creative inspiration for your work? We’re curious what the narrative or story is to what you are producing?

My work represents the energy that encompasses the ego, the human condition. I paint emotions as portraits. The best way I can describe it is to imagine feeling fearful. Maybe at the time of feeling fear you may feel like a fearful person, but I like to believe that fear is a being that has come for a visit. It’s a heavy and powerful feeling that may take over your real self. And you may unconsciously act out your feelings with anger and project it onto others. But what if you see the feeling of fear as a being and it's not attached to your true self. It gets a lot easier to accept that it’s temporary. The feeling of being afraid can be separated from you by putting a face and body to it, and you may be able to help yourself be more courageous or at least allow you to think calmer and clearer.

Besides your artworks, are there any other things in life that your voice as an artist may consider vital or valuable? What makes you joyful and creative, in other words?

I value a healthy relationship with life, death, spirituality, nature, animals, family, friends, and physical and mental health. I would not have the motivation or perseverance I support without a good balance of all things that bring me joy. I especially value my daughter, who has shown me so much about myself! She has reunited me with my inner child, which is a frequent theme throughout my work. Having a connection to my spiritual guides and angels has also seen me through some very dark times in my life. Without these things, I could not appreciate and acknowledge my life lessons as gifts, and my personal growth has consistently been enriched both as a human and an artist.

Are there any exhibitions or places where people can see these beautiful creations in person soon? Anything on the horizon?

I am represented by Art for The People Gallery in Austin, TX, and in Santa Fe, NM at Keep Contemporary Gallery. I am always open to the opportunity to show my work in person! 

Website: https://www.jrrapier.com