Meet john mahoney | Filmmaker – Inspirational Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with john mahoney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi john, what makes you happy? Why?

Keeping crazy busy is essential. I have to be working on something every minute of the day. Ideally if I have three or four projects going on simultaneously, I’m the happiest. Sitting on a beautiful beach gazing at the sunset is very stressful for me. I need to be building mutltiple sand castles while photographing the clouds.

Specifically I love film editing, drawing, and sculpture, but my ultimate goal is to be a filmmaker. Film is my passion. I study movies compulsively.  I teared up several times watching James Cameron’s master class. I often wonder where I would be if I went to film school rather than studying art, but I feel now that I made the correct decision. One area of study informs the other. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

I also love teaching. I love being in the classroom environment. I try to inspire as many people as I can. I think this is the most important thing I can leave behind in this world, is the ideas and concepts that I have passed along.

I love organizing brainstorming sessions with friends on how we can take our careers and creative projects to the next level. I find helping others out in this way also reinforces my own journey and what’s needed to move things forward. I highly recommend this to anyone who my feel a bit confused about what their next steps might be.

Having parties, BBQ’s, and film screenings at my home gives me endless joy. I’m working on a menu today, so when people come over for movie night, they can order what ever they want, for free of course. We’ll have just the basics: Hot dogs, chicken nuggets (from Trader Joe’s) buckets of pop corn, and ice cream of the day… I’m still deciding on the drinks. I guess we should throw something healthy in there too. Good times for sure.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Right now, I’m semi retired. I teach Illustration, sculpture, figure drawing, and so on, while developing my film projects. I enjoyed working for some amazing studios in the past but I feel it’s time to tell my own stories.

Tell us about you art?
My art is largely influenced by 1960 psychedelic poster art, mixed with animation. But also a large influence from Fine Art based on my art school background. I also have a huge influence from Heavy Metal magazine, which is a fantasy magazine that came out I believe in the late 70s. Then there’s also a mixture of Science Fiction and horror films which is also added to the mix. So I think what separates my work, is the large amount of influences that I allowed myself to indulge in over the years.

I feel my work is deeply personal, sometimes to a fault. I allow my mind to wander as I do these strange doodles. I thought when I was younger I would become a commercial artist, maybe an illustrator, but the further I got into art, the more my personal visions and story ideas took hold of me. When I look at my work I don’t really see it as being unique as much as I see all the influences that have guided me along the way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love going to conventions! Designer Con, Monsterpalooza, CTN, and so on. This is where I get the most inspired, seeing great art and meeting the artists behind the scenes. I often have tables at these conventions, which can be stressful to set up but amazing to meet so many people at one time. I look forward to returning to these someday. 

When friends visit, first place I take them is to Apex in North Hollywood. It’s basically a rusted junkyard where you can buy bits and pieces from the past. They sell it by the pound. My ideal places to visit are junk yards and industrial type of locations. This is where I find the most interesting influences. I derive absolutely no inspiration whatsoever from nature, mountains, trees, grass, all that stuff doesn’t interest me whatsoever, but the industrial world gives me boundless ideas for imaginative worlds. 

My dream place to visit would be a wreck city of some kind. I hope to find some destroyed city sometime soon to use as location for my current film project.

I also recommend when visiting Los Angeles, Stewart NG Books Store! I love that place! As for food, come to our house. I make the best Mac n Cheese. I only wish my art was as good as my Mac n Cheese.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My close friends and family who have encouraged me to keep pushing forward. They have also picked me up when I have fallen and have reminded me the importance of love, health, and joy. Sending love to then all!

Website: https://mahoneyart.carbonmade.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahoney_artworks/

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-mahoney/4/612/818

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.mahoney1

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD3k381f58w

Other: Artstation course: https://www.artstation.com/learning/series/nl/traditional-sculpting Store: http://www.theinspirationstation.com