Written by: Ava Sterbin
One of two muralists selected for this year’s Art Infusion, CJ Hungerman is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but now resides in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and two children. His art is displayed throughout the country in Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana, Florida, New York, California, Iowa, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and of course Wisconsin. His work ranges worldwide as well, including Canada, China, England, and South Korea. Although well credited and passionate about his life’s work and public art, CJ wasn’t always interested in the idea of putting his art on public display.
CJ knew since high school he would excel in the world of the arts. He was never interested in traditional school subjects. He always found himself creating art or playing music which fueled his fire to go to school and gain education in the arts. As a college student from 1991 to 1999, he gained art degrees from colleges such as Northern Illinois University, West Virginia University, Savannah College of Art & Design, and West Liberty State College. CJ is incredibly well educated in the art world and gained a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design, a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting and Design, and a Masters of Fine Art in Painting and Design. During college, CJ truly explored his craft and developed his love for graffiti and surrealism. He gained inspiration for his art style from his peers and their graffiti art. His peers were self-taught and he loved the vibrancy of the color work. CJ adapted those same styles and techniques in his work and credits his
friends for keeping his work fresh.
From 1996 to 2001, CJ followed his dream of teaching at the University of Northern Illinois where he taught elements of art using Adobe applications, including Intro to Design, Photoshop, and Illustrator. CJ fell in love with teaching, not for the self benefit, but for the opportunity to help students succeed in navigating the art world. He believed if he could give students stability in the classroom and the skills they needed, it would translate to the outside world. He wanted every one of his students to succeed and shared, “That’s where my love of working with people came from.”
Teaching opened many gateways to opportunity including becoming a graphic designer for tradeshows. This evolved his understanding of how to create large format murals. Working with art allowed him to not only personally develop his art, but publicly as well. However, although the art world may be exciting, achieving success can be challenging. CJ, like many artists, struggled to find work, was losing his way to addiction, and struggled in his personal relationships. It was during this time the idea of public art was “dropped into his lap in a time of struggle.” Being thrown into public art helped him find his way again.
According to CJ, being an artist isn’t always a smooth ride. It takes him an average 300 jobs applied to book and execute one job. He said, “It’s a struggle to make it in the art world and can be discouraging if you don’t keep your head in the game.” He explained how it’s tough when an artist doesn’t know the predictability of having a job. “The game of art is all about luck. If someone digs your art, you can make money and make it in the industry.” According to him, artists stick with their art until they make a big break and doors of opportunity open from there. Although sometimes a struggle, CJ wouldn’t change his love of art for the world. “No way I would do anything else, it’s too much fun,”.
In 2021, CJ had submitted to the Call for Artists for Janesville’s annual Art Infusion event. He was named a muralist for that year and again in 2023 and 2024. When CJ first found himself in Janesville, he was offered a place to stay by Nigella Ryan to experience the community. Nigella had originally told him to submit his work into the competition and the rest was history.
In the public art creation process, CJ meets with a committee or a group of people from the community. An idea is pitched and he makes a mockup of their vision with his own artistic spin. He then makes edits based on the desire of the committee. When creating art for a community, he says, “You want someone to say to your art, “That’s it, that’s exactly it.”” It’s clearly visible in his art and in his deep-rooted connections to the communities he works with that his love for the people runs strong. He summed up his enjoyment for making public art and bringing people together by saying, “If you do this correctly, you can have a blast and create artwork and make people happy”.
CJ views his art as a way to encourage people to work together and embrace diversity. He uses the abstract of bringing dissonance together to make a particular concept. He explains, in reference to his private art, he makes it “strange enough for people to question” and then the understanding, learning, and reading about his work follows. He wants his art to influence those who are observing it but it only works if people are accepting of his concepts. He explained his thoughts on diversity in communities and why he wants his art to depict that. He says, “Everyone should be able to live together and work together,” he said. “I would like to see a world of diversity no matter where they come from or live.” Through his art, CJ explains the concept of diversity is easy to understand when people are interested. “You see so many people hating on each other these days that you want to erase that thinking through art and bring people together.” He describes his ideas in his art as subtlety of unity and bringing joy. His passion of his work and desire to make a difference in each community they make their mark in is truly inspiring.
CJ continues to come back to the Janesville community because he enjoys the residents and connections he makes with people. CJwas “blown away about the amount of influence people have on the community and it’s amazing to see how a town like Janesville flourished.” He went on to talk about how much he wants and encourages people to visit Janesville. “It’s a gem that doesn’t disappoint. I can’t emphasize enough how fun it is to go there.” If it were up to him, he would visit and participate in Art Infusion every single year!
