Just Add Creativity

Artist Jim Valeri upcycles found objects into joyfully ironic art

Local artist Jim Valeri has built a career drawing iconic animated characters, including Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and many other Disney classics. By combining his artistic expertise with his life experience and imagination, Jim fuels his side passion— upcycling thrift store paintings and creating sculptures with random items. Using unconventional materials and mediums, Jim creates art that “adds value to something that somewhere along the line lost its value,” and where surprising characters sometimes pop up in unexpected places.

Lately, Jim has been looking into ways to partner with creative chefs to do art-inspired pop-up dinners.

Edible Ojai & Ventura County: Have you always been artistic?

Jim Valeri: I knew I wanted to be an artist since 1st grade when I painted a picture of a flamingo. My teacher, Ms. Childs, was so congratulatory and made such a big fuss about how I intuitively mixed red and white tempura paint to get the pink color for that bird, that I distinctly remember thinking, “This is what I want to do when I grow up.” That bit of genuine praise from a grown up set me on my path and I really never wanted to be anything else.

Edible: How did you prepare for your art career?

Jim: I drew and sketched all of the time from childhood. I doodled on things. I made stick figures in the margins of my mom’s Nursing textbooks, and did flip book style animations. I just kept at it through High School drawing from magazine reference and copying the works of masters. My family couldn’t afford a reputable Art School at the time, but I eventually earned my BA degree from CSUN in 2D Design. The real learning came after college when I became an apprentice Character Artist at Disney Consumer Products in 1994. Nothing truly prepares or educates a commercial artist like working in an actual operating studio surrounded by ridiculously talented people. I’m pretty sure I was the least naturally talented person in that initial group of apprentices but I was determined to work harder than anybody to overcome the deficit. Over the course of 25 years, I put countless hours into improving my craft and I can confidently say that I will never feel like I have arrived. There are too many facets to creativity to master them all or even a good portion of them, and I’m okay with that.

Edible: You have a day job. Can you tell us what that entails? 

Jim: I’m at Cartoon Network full time which is now part of Warner Brothers so I’m excited to be associated with all of that cartoon and film history. I am not an animator, I currently Art Direct the creation of character art and Illustrations that originate from our shows and is then translated into licensed Toys, Collectibles, Apparel, marketing materials etc. I don’t think I’ll ever elect to retire if I can help it because even though it can be stressful being a creative person in a corporate environment, I still have fun doing what I do. If I get to exercise my imagination, I’m still that kid in 1st grade and it never gets dull.

Edible: Can you tell us about your side passion?

Jim: It occurred to me a couple of years ago that most of my artwork in the last 15 years or so existed solely in digital form. The advent of computer-aided-design as a standard approach happened pretty early in my career. It was a great tool and made creative output much more efficient, but it also meant that at some point I lost touch with the tactile experience of drawing, painting and sculpting. I mean, ironically, you spend all of these years honing your craft only to see it majestically displayed on a 3” screen on a smartphone!

So, I decided to get my hands dirty again. I wanted to end up with actual pieces of art that could be touched and handled...that could outlive me in some way. I wanted to make things that have heft and can be viewed from different angles. I have learned over the years that limitations are the greatest gift an artist can ask for. Working within parameters and reimagining the original application of a random item that is in front of you forces creative problem solving and it enables, rather than limits creativity.

So I started building these characters out of found objects and do assemblage pieces from them. It was basically character art expressed in a different form....it just employed the use of tools and fasteners and such rather than a computer and a stylus. I never really know ahead of time what the result will be. The process sort of reveals itself and I go along on the journey. I love that! It’s pure joy to be making a “fobot” (found object robot) and to see where it ultimately ends up after a million little design decisions that really occur subliminally.

Edible: What types of items do you use and where do you find them?

Jim: I try to stick with things made of metal because of its durability and shininess. I look for stuff at thrift stores, antique stores, yard sales—anywhere, really. I often use kitchen utensils because they’re abundant, cheap, recognizable, usually made from metal, and are really versatile.

More recently, I saw the documentary Beauty is Embarrassing about artist Wayne White, who takes discarded paintings and modifies them by painting words and phrases into otherwise bucolic landscapes. It intrigued me, so I started “hacking” old prints and paintings by painting on popular characters. It’s another form of taking something that had an original purpose or intent and completely changing the narrative. I’m adding value to something that somewhere along the line lost its value. Lately I’ve also been making black velvet paintings of characters and pop culture icons because it’s just so kitschy and it was always considered low-brow stuff by the sanctioned art community and that has an undeniable appeal to me. What I do is ironic or silly ... sometimes absurd. I think the basis of all unique creative ideas is just that: absurdity.

Edible: What’s your inspiration?

Jim: Inspiration is a mysterious thing. I don’t really want to over analyze it or overthink it. It’s like one of those floaters in your eye....when you try to look at it, it drifts out of view. I do feel like it’s sort of a parable about my life though.

About eight years ago my wife of 28 years, who was also an artist, fell ill in her late 40s with very early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. It was absolutely devastating to watch that unfold and it continues to this day. Needless to say, my life and world were turned upside down. Everything that I thought was solid and certain became gelatinous and open-ended ... it took me years to learn to accept what is and to try to make something beautiful out of this reality that was now before me. I see my art as a microcosm of that. We have to take the junk and broken or discarded things in our life and try to make something worthwhile from them. It takes courage and it can seem like folly at times. But even broken or seemingly valueless things, including our lives, can be repurposed or “upcycled.”

View Jim’s work on Instagram @jimv.art and JimVArt.com.

This interview has been edited for space. The full interview is available at EdibleVenturaCounty.com.