‘HARD WORK J. Pierce brightens the world with the stroke of a brush By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
sits on the sofa of his Gilbert home donning black pants, a playful Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles T-shirt he designed, and colorful shoes that pop. The cream-colored walls are bare, which is surprising for the prolific artist who has sold his Keith Haring-like artwork to likes of rapper Rick Ross and Ethan Lawrence of Lawrence Motorsport in the Airpark. “His personality and his being are truly what his art is like also,” says Lawrence, who commissioned Pierce to paint murals throughout his showroom. “He’s as much of a character as his drawings are.” Pierce is one of Arizona’s best-kept secrets. Besides his work for Ross and Lawrence, Pierce designed T-shirts for Samuel L. Jackson and artwork for former professional baseball player Howie Kendrick, who lives in Phoenix. Pierce’s work, particularly for Jackson, led to mentions on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “It was cool when Jimmy Kimmel gave me a shout out,” Pierce says with his trademark wide smile. “He said I was an Arizona artist. There are always California artists, New York or Miami artists, Chicago artists. It’s cool to represent Arizona. “It’s been awesome, man. I originally started out doing art walks, like the Chandler Art Walk, and selling my paintings, right, for $20 or $40. Now I’m seeing my artwork sell for hundreds and thousands.”
Living in the ‘hood’
As a child, Pierce split his time between California and Chicago after his parents separated. He attended high school and college in San Jose. In Chicago, he lived in the “hood,” as he calls it, where he learned to hustle and paint T-shirts for gangsters. “I never messed around in that (gang life), but I was always protected,” he says. “They liked me because I skateboarded and lived in the hood in Chicago. “But there would be barbecues every other day with my family. So, I would be in Chicago, going downtown and being in the city. Then, living in San Jose, it had the whole Cali vibe.” He discovered penciling and sketching at age 15, when he was in foster care as his parents were going through “tough times,” he says. They went their own ways, and Pierce spent two years in foster care. He, in turn, basically emancipated soon thereafter. “In high school, I started painting custom clothing — like painting on shoes, shirts and dress shirts,” Pierce says. “I’d wear it to school, and all my friends asked where I found the stuff. It led to painting on canvases.” In high school, he was inspired to start his own brand by LRG owner Jonas Bevacqua, who died of natural causes in 2011. “He was one of the biggest streetwear brands,” he says. “I’d send him my art and show him. He emailed me and said to keep up the good work,
28 / SCOTTSDALE AIRPARK NEWS / SEPTEMBER 2021
