Joe Guy Allard
The world of robots and zombies is full of weird creatures who have a glimmer of humanity. Just ask C-3PO. Or Shaun of the Dead. Or Joe Guy Allard: creator of a tongue-in-cheek world somewhere between brushstrokes and comics.
Joe has shown and sold his acrylic-on-canvas work at art festivals, galleries, coffeehouses, bars, and tattoo parlors, mainly in Rochester and Buffalo, but hopes to expand his presence in years to come. A graphic designer from Ottawa, Canada, he now makes his home in Rochester's Highland Park neighborhood with his wife and two kids.A full-time graphic designer, Joe first put brush to canvas when he moved out on his own—“to keep my walls from being bare.”
In the beginning, it was simply a matter of money.
“Since paint and canvases were cheaper than the actual prints and frames, I could just copy what I wanted to hang around my tiny apartment,” Joe says.
“I started experimenting with styles and techniques I'd read about. By repainting and repainting over the same canvases, eventually I found my groove.”
His earliest audience? Friends.
“At some point I started forcing custom pieces on my friends whether they wanted them or not,” Joe says. “And they were gracious enough to hang them, giving me the confidence to be more serious about what I was doing.”
After he got married, Joe's wife encouraged him to start showing his art beyond their living room and their circle of friends.
“I got into the Corn Hill Festival that year, put up a shabby-looking mess of a tent, and sold one single painting. It was amazing.”
And life-changing, he says.
“It was the first time a perfect stranger walked right up to me and essentially said 'I want to give you my hard-earned money for the piece you painted out of nothing.'”
Joe remembers his first customers well. Newlyweds moving to Rochester from Atlanta.
Joe“Their story, their faces, the sound of their voices. It was so awesome and surreal, I had a piece of the painting tattooed on my arm to commemorate the moment.”
Joe's horizons have broadened since then.
“I paint what makes me happy, so I initially pictured my audience to be exactly like me,” he says.
His fans today are much more diverse than he expected. Sure, Joe's work has a following among students—and parents looking for art to give their teenage kids.
Right now, Joe's working on a new series, “Villains,” that stars an anti-hero. Here, the characters are displayed as cutouts in the storefront window of Pulp Nouveau Comix in Canandaigua, NY.“But there is also the 37-year-old lawyer who has bought two of my paintings so far,” he adds. “And the South Wedge couple who liked my pieces hanging at Tap & Mallet so much that I now create all of the gig posters for their comedy shows at Boulder Coffee. It's a weird mix and I love it.”
His recent success keeps him motivated to grow. So do success stories from others.
“I can't get enough of reading about one- or two-person businesses that make it. Not necessarily making it big, but that they can make a living by doing something that didn't exist before they came along. I love those stories,” Joe says.
He's not sure what his next project might look like. But it may be clothing-optional.
“Nudes maybe? I never did go to art school, and I feel I missed out on the whole figure drawing business,” Joe says.
“Wondering what my nudes might turn out to be makes me laugh—which usually means there's a good chance I'll paint it.”
In a world of robots and zombies, it's only natural.
Joe creates gig posters for a comedy series at Rochester's Boulder Coffee.
See more: www.joe-guy.com, on Tumblr and on Etsy
Say hi: joe@joe-guy.com or Facebook or Twitter