We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Jxhn and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Paul, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
For me starting my own business was the only thing that made sense at the time. I was working for someone else selling hats at a weekend market, whilst also selling my art on the side. After my first couple sales mangement said I would have to open and pay for my own stallat the market if I wanted to continue selling art, which is exactly what I did.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Through my art I’m creating a new style of contemporary portraiture. My work starts with photography and then ends with painting, I do not paint on top of photos but I instead continue them into a more complete form. My journey was certainly not easy asp for part of it I was a young foreigner starting a business I’m south africa. Dealing with the county’s crime rates was difficult. I looked at my art religious and my creations as a reflection of who I am. This gave me and my work purpose. If I could tell the whole world one thing it would be declration of my dream, that I’m gonna be bigger than piccaso.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live just outside of harare the capital city, and during the day I would take them our for day activities like horse riding and golf carting. At night I would visit all the popular spots like jam tree tin roof and mashwede. On the weekend we would go to my farm which has a dam where we can braii meat and drink whilst you look at the views.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think Rudolph Carn has been a big support in my artistic career, as he was the first person to buy a piece from me when I opened my own art business. At the time I had gone two months with no sales so it was really encouraging. Mr Carn would then go on to become my biggest collector over time
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