By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor
I’ve often imagined what people do with their old copies of All Around Pennsauken after excitingly reading them cover to cover. Archiving the issues for posterity’s sake aside or depositing them directly into the recycling bucket, I’m sure they’re repurposed as packing material, used to cover windows, line bird cages, or assist puppies during the house training process.
Then there’s Jason Sanders. A Pennsauken resident living in the Bloomfield section of town, the talented artist uses the 10” x 10” pages as canvas for his paintings.
“I FaceTime with my friend and fellow artist Cameron every day. He was showing me paintings he made on newspaper,” explained Sanders. “I was inspired by his work. I had my All Around Pennsauken paper sitting on the table; I grabbed it and just did an illustration and showed it to him. He said, ‘Wow, that’s really cool. You should keep going.’ That’s kind of the genesis of it.”
The painted pieces are eye catching and done in a cubist style, where subjects are analyzed, broken up, and reassembled into an abstract form.
“The focus of all of the creative output was skulls, that’s been my theme,” said Sanders. “These new pieces have skulls and skeletal elements but then they also have other things, like lips and eyes. They’re full-page art pieces. They’re something totally different for me.”
Sanders’ work doesn’t just strike a chord with those appreciative of the style, but also collectors.
“I decided to see if anyone would be interested in collecting them. And sure enough, my first one sold. In fact, I sold an original painting for several nights in a row.”
Auctions occur on Twitter, with a $50 minimum bid. One of Jason’s pieces went for over $200.
“I’m so thankful to my collectors. Those pieces have been collected by some amazing art appreciators.”
Jason reached out about needing more “canvas,” as his artwork has been extremely popular and he was running out of copies. I was happy to be able to provide him with plenty of back copies to keep him painting for quite a long time.
For those who’d like a free, one-color, original piece from Jason, he’ll be painting this Saturday, April 29, at the Pennsauken Free Public Library, 5605 N. Crescent Blvd., from 11:00 a.m. to noon. Be sure to bring a copy of the paper for him to work with! And more of Jason’s artwork can be found @drainedeye on both Twitter and Instagram, as well as DrainedEye.com.
