Jon Mora
by Diana Cercone
If beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, then, surely, so does art. For in order for us to truly see a work of art, it must engage us. Draw us to it. Touch us in some way. It could be the colors that grab us, the image it captures, its form or the mood it conveys. It may tell a story or give flight to our own imagination. Or the work of art may bring us joy or contemplation, remind us of someone or some place, or simply set our spirit at rest. It’s this premise that Bucks County artist Jon Mora banks on.
“I’m only one half of the painting,” he says. “I’m only the presenter. It’s the interpreter [viewer] that takes up most of the space ... that completes the painting.” This he tells me while swirling shrimp in a sauté pan in his open kitchen but not before he has set a tray holding a thick wedge of aged Manchego cheese, hot pepper relish and mustard before me on a nearby table. The shrimp smells divine and I ask what he’s making.
It’s his version of a shrimp tapas dish, shrimp mariachi, he says, setting it down at the table along with a lime mayonnaise he has whipped up as a dipping sauce. As I accept the wooden skewer he hands me to spear and dip, I thank him for the feast, adding that I certainly hadn’t expected anything—and, certainly, not on such a gourmet scale.
“From your last name,” he says, joining me at the table, “I knew you were Italian, so I figured you like to eat. And I like to cook. It’s really a very simple dish to make.”
Simple for him, perhaps, but not unless you understand the basics of cooking, of knowing which ingredients will marry well, which will offer a counterpoise and when, after mastering the rules, you can break them to create new dishes. It’s the same with his paintings. He describes them as “simple,” but, as he shows me portfolios filled with his paintings and, later, as I follow him through the New Britain home he shares with with girlfriend, Dr. Christina Davis of Peace Valley Holistic Center, to view others hanging on the walls, I know they’re anything but.
Even his line drawings, such as Forms of Dancing, mixed media, 16x12, and Saturday Night Fever, which he pulls out from a large black case like a magician digging into his hat, at first appear simple. A second look confirms their expertise. The former, through his artistically placed strokes of red and black on a white background, convey the eyes of a dancer and expressive movements of hands and legs. And the latter can be no other than John Travolta disco dancing in his iconic white suit with his luxurious mane flying even though the drawing is only black lines on white.
To finish Spontaneity as Art, go to page 76 in our Winter 13/14 issue of Bucks County Magazine.