Moods

Oil and particle board on canvas
30in. x 30in.
© Copyright 2001 Jason J. Loya

This is what the title says it is. It is a portrait Erika Larrondo. I sort of found my own version of cubism with this one.

...And all at once, a muffled roar
lingered in the air...
Crisp precision emptiness
whispered loud and clear --
But what becomes of fairness
and the truest of the lies?
Indifference and solitude
seem only quaint and near;
Wisdom warns of weariness
and then merriment descends
With all the lonely lineage of
long lost lines in sand
Beneath the tainted surface of a man...
...And so it goes -- hand in hand
with the error of our ways.

Just bow your head
and breathe a sigh
Of well deserved relief --
-- for in the clearing up ahead
You'll find your wicked thief:
the Unsuspecting Criminal,
All flowery and keen
beneath a pink umbrella
With a mallet and a scythe.
Don't you see eye to eye?

© Copyright 2004 Jason J. Loya

Oil on canvas
30" x 40"
© Copyright 2003 Jason J. Loya

This is a painting that I completed in 2003. It deals with the human struggle between cold hard will and warm flowing passion. I often experience this struggle. The key is to find a balance where both will and passion can co-exist, feeding off each other, and promoting growth.

For anyone who wants to know more about Al Jezeera and the press coverage of the Iraq war, or even if you think you already know a lot about it, I HIGHLY reccommend the film "Control Room." Rent it, buy it, or borrow it. If you ever think about "freedom of speech" -- what it means and how it is practiced, you must see this film. I gurantee it is not one that will receive ANY attention from mainstream American media. Despite this, it is an incredibly balanced, honest, and informative film -- a genuine eye opener. Here is a link for much more information on this piece: CONTROL ROOM

Project X
Oil, acrylic, pastel, pencil, wire, and cardboard on canvas
48in. x 30in.
©Copyright 2002 Jason J. Loya & Robyn T. Gorgos

This is a painting that has a very cool story behind it. A talented artist and a good friend of mine for the past twelve years, Robyn Gorgos, co-created this piece with me. He was living in San Diego at the time and I was here in L.A. He would usually come up to visit every month or so and we decided it would be a good idea for each of us to work on a canvas and exchange them the next time we got together. Robyn and I have different styles but many similar influences. Each time we got the chance to work on the piece, it had changed. It allowed us to gain a new perspective constantly. We had to add something to the piece and even shift the focus without taking anything away. It was a great challenge. In the end, the canvases had changed hands five or six times. One turned out great -- the other just never quite felt right. This is the one that we like.

This one is best read aloud.


a sqeek, a chirp, cccchurp chuurp churp, rp
anonsensicallineof - stop to dot - complicated ramblings
Squeak Squeak Squeak eek
a nonsensical - stop to dot - neverending - stop to dot --
Squeak Squeak Squeak
andsoandsoandso so.
I am trying to pay attention but
Squeek Scweek chirp
andsoandsoandso
She speaks and speaks and speaks
andsoandsoand

Send me away from wherever I came...
aname aname a name...

Breathe real hard and a sound comes out
Breathe and go out --
We need to find a place to live
We need to find our place and live!
a place a Place A Place...

and a small piece of lace.
squeaksqueaksqueak.

© copyright 1999 Jason J. Loya

Composition with Woman and Chair
oil on canvas
40" x 30"

This is an oil painting that I did in 2003 in honor of two of my greatest artistic influences. It is my own composition made from a combination of VanGogh's Chair with Pipe and Picasso's Femme Assise dans un Fauteuil Rouge (Woman in a Red Armchair). I created a collage out of pictures of the two great paintings and then copied the collage onto the canvas. I learned a lot by doing this piece: specifically, I had the opportunity to absorb the techniques of two great artists at the same time.

"Believe nothing...merely because you have been told
it...or because it is traditional, or because you
yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your
teacher tells you merely out of respect for the
teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and
analysis, you find to be conductive to the good, the
benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine
believe and cling to, and take it as your guide." ~Buddha

This is a poem that I wrote some time in 1994. It followed a walk that I took on that same night.

I took a walk--
I don't know why,
To see the trees
Side by side:

They stood there staring or
Sleeping,
Not caring.

Two black shadows dark
But firm
Stood their ground or
Must have learned
That in the night by
Clouded moonlight
I'd come walking
To catch the sight
Of two dark lovers
Or swarthy brothers

Both there standing,
Each alone
But there together in place like stone.

Below my feet and beneath
The trunks of two great trees,
I saw a dark spot on the ground:
Black oil dark spot,
Small and round.

I could not wait by the phone all night,
So there I stood
On a dark spot
With none but these two trees in sight.
What they mean
Or why I am here but there,
I just can't say
But at these two silhouettes I'd stare.

Ask me not of
The oil spot or of
Birds in winter trees--
The ones that stood before me then
Were never full of leaves.

I had seen much more
Than I thought I'd seen
On any night before
And all that came to mind was:
Why?
Simply put,
To save some time,
Without the trees, the spot, the night,
I'd wait too long and never die.

So take the time to see dark trees,
It doesn't matter how--
For any better time to look
Or know
May as well be now.

© Copyright 1994 Jason J. Loya