Jon Lew grew up in Wyoming, an Asian minority in a small town. His family traveled frequently, and, as a child, he longed to live in a big city. He left Wyoming for Colorado in 1999 to attend art school at the Art Institute of Denver. After graduation, he found tattooing and a way to be a working artist. He has shown his work solo and as a part of a group, and has been published in tattooing magazines. In 2010, he opened his own tattoo shop, Fortune Cookie Tattoo. Jon's work draws inspiration from: 1980s and 90s pop culture, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Ralph Bakshi, Pee-Wee Herman, and Heavy Metal Magazine- as well as print artists, like Coop, Shag, and Warhol; and visual vocabulary of traditional tattooing. Jon uses element of eroticism in fun and unusual ways, always through a leftist lens, aiming to frame nudity as a form of empowerment for the figures depicted. These pieces are gelli (monotype) prints, created using a silicone plate, acrylic paint, laser prints and magazine collage. They are part of his ongoing daily print making practice.
