Rising Stars: Meet J. Gentile of Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to J. Gentile

Hi J., please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always been creative. I just never would have thought I would be using it to paint. It took a life changing event to change not only my career but also my brain. About 20 years ago, I was pursuing my fast paced and most intense career in medical research. I was also getting ready to continue my education in medical school for further training as well. Then in 2004, I experienced a most horrible injury to my brain that has changed my life forever. I contracted the measles virus, which was an unidentifiable version that my body overreacted to. This resulted in my immune system attacking the virus which went to my brain stem. After my immune system killed the virus, it continued to attack my brain. This all left me to develop brain stem encephalitis. I was supposed to be a vegetable from it, but destiny had a much bigger plan for me, and certainly not one I ever would have imagined.

The condition that I was left in prevented me from continuing my career in the medical field, and I became permanently disabled. I had to leave my dreams of becoming a Doctor behind, and accept losing everything I had worked for. Later on the next year, in 2005, I started doing some therapy with painting to help cognitive function. That is when everything snapped in place. I was painting for the first time, never been trained, never painted ANYTHING before in my life but I was painting as if I had been for years. Painting some pretty amazing things and I shocked my family, including myself at times. Basically, the brain injury caused my brain to switch from a scientist approach to being creative to being artistic in the sense of being an artist. The virus might have destroyed my medical career but it opened a whole new world and career to me in art. That is when my life took a very different turn and I became the artist I would have never dreamed I would become.

Since then I have been on a rigorous journey with art. I have had two art projects that were very successful. L.B.Paintings, which was a project aimed towards my charity to DV shelters. Halcyon Fine Art was another project that I worked on with another artist in collaboration. I have now decided to work and create under my name, J.Gentile Fine Art. I am now pursuing my own personal creative endeavors with my art by exhibiting around the world. I have gone further and have been blessed to have had my work published in 5 different art books that you can find across the world in various museums and libraries.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Life is an obstacle course, strengthening you for the next obstacle course. My personal journey has been rocky to say the least. From being disabled to being a single Mother, a DV survivor, and restarting my life from ground up. I would never want anyone to experience the pain of my past, but I will say that it’s the pain and loss that transformed me. It brought me to myself and my path. To my destiny. I embrace all of it, and I am grateful.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As an artist I am most known for creating art that takes spiritual concepts and interprets them by abstraction with a hint of surrealism. My objective goal is to reach the curious mind and communicate through the windows of the soul, to the spirit. My work is heavily influenced from my study of the occult, language, culture, symbolism, numerology, sacred geometry, and dreams.

As an individual and an artist I do not see myself set apart from others but rather that I am striving to become apart of the whole. The whole that makes up humanity. The whole that belongs to our divinity as a collective. The whole that belongs to all of us that makes us ONE.

What does success mean to you?
Success is but a mere illusion of the ego. I have been driven by that in my past. Nowadays I only believe in potentials. My willingness and desire to become the greatest version of myself brings me to always reach for my highest potential.

Contact Info:

• Email: www.jgentilefineart@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.gentile_fine_art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/J.Gentile333

Image Credits
J.Gentile