Jon MacNair was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in the suburbs of southeast Michigan near Detroit. He graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2005, where he earned a BFA in Illustration. His commercial work has appeared in editorial publications and mainly been used for apparel and package design.
Clients include: Chobani, Quirk Books, The New York Times, Corpse Corps Boards, Closed Casket Activities, Monument Snowboards, 21st Amendment Brewery, Grove, Willamette Week, On3P Skis, The Stranger, Gigantic Brewing, Tooth & Nail Records, Baltimore Magazine, Annalemma, Urbanite Magazine, Baltimore City Paper, Slice Literary Magazine, Pittsburgh City Paper, The Riverfront Times, The Washington Square Review and Computer Arts Projects.
In addition to freelance illustration, he frequently exhibits his personal work in galleries around the U.S. and abroad. Cities include New York, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tokyo, Manila, Glasgow, Paris, Hamburg and Melbourne. Notable exhibitions include the annual group show at La Luz de Jesus Gallery and The BLAB! Show at Copro Gallery. Publications such as the New York Times, Beautiful Decay, Elle Girl, Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose have also featured his work.
Over the years, Jon has called various cities home, including Baltimore, Portland (OR) and Austin. He currently resides in Pennsylvania where he divides his time between freelance projects and creating personal work for exhibitions.
email jonlmacnair@gmail.com for inquiries and commissions.
“Jon MacNair opens windows into cryptic worlds with his monochromatic pen-and-ink drawings. His work has a decidedly vintage, if not medieval, feel. The artist renders elaborate depictions of self-created myths and legends, but rather than being grandiose, the tone of his work is self-aware and humorous.”
“Jon MacNair’s illustrations are to-the-point and communicative, summing up big ideas in beautifully clear and whimsical imagery. His fine art pieces are mysterious and dreamlike, often encapsulating entire narratives within one image.”
“Cleverly interwoven mythological undercurrents assist in advancing MacNair’s absorbing narratives, and along with his intricate symbolic visual cues, we are lead headlong into the interpreting of the human condition through an array of everyday moral and philosophical conundrums, with the added excitement of otherworldly mysticism and magic.”