“Jimmy Paintz,” or Jimmy Pierce, prevails over darkness with the optimistic light reflected in his art. His simplistic trademark, the smiley face, is pasted all throughout his designs. While it does carry aesthetic appeal, its purpose runs deeper, ultimately reminding everyone in dark times to carry hope.
Pierce exhibited his vivid artwork at the Magic Box Gallery on its opening night on October 2 at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood. The event was run under the Conscious Market, an LA company that prioritizes sustainability and promotes artists and businesses that have a unique flair to them.
The first things I noticed at the event were the artworks’ vibrant contemporary paint splatter technique and thick black line-art, emphasizing the colors and making them pop. The paintings depicted renditions of various iconic cartoon characters, all done in this signature style. The smileys were recurrent.
The collection of cartoon characters was diverse, ranging from Scooby-Doo to The Little Mermaid, Astro Boy, and Bart Simpson.
Most of the exhibited work was done during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020, but some paintings were also done as recently as this year. One of my favorite pieces was the 2025 painting of Kirby that Pierce did—a simple yet textured Kirby, hanging onto a giant rainbow-splattered star, with a smiley printed on top. The star caught my attention; it was so colorful, contrasting with the black background and sharp black details of the face. He has unmistakably mastered his technique.
His most well-known and collectible art is his work done solely on smiley faces. I admire this because it turns something so simple into something that can be heavily adaptable depending on what techniques, materials, shapes, and form you use. Online, just by looking him up, you can see the many “canvases” he used to display these smileys, including walls, floors, utility boxes, and stickers.
This collection was special because, for the most part, it was as yet unseen by those familiar with his art. It showed the versatility in his talent. His cartoon character work is comparable to his smileys, in that he takes simple icons and uses them to demonstrate his complex style and manipulation of materials.
Being invited to his art studio in Hollywood for an interview, I was able to sit and talk with him about his journey as an artist. His walls and floor were just as much a canvas as his actual canvases, with paint splatters on the floor and markings on the wall. The whole room was a free space to create.
Surprisingly to me, Pierce only began his professional art career in 2015, building an impressive following in just 10 years. Some time before that, he had actually been going to school to pursue physical therapy; growing up in a Filipino household, the norms of going into the medical field were etched into his culture. However, the switch over to full-time art was natural, as he had acknowledged that his creative traits were prominent his whole life.
As he made this shift, he still found ways to incorporate Filipino culture through his love for fashion—his mom was a seamstress, influencing him to dabble in clothing design. He showed and gifted me one of his recent hoodie designs with the iconic paint-splatter smiley, also announcing his upcoming collaboration with Levi’s.
Pierce never took a traditional art class, stating that it made him feel too restricted in his process, which, like his style, was outside the lines. His style was developed from various splashing and splattering techniques. First, he used figures and mannequin statues as his base, then moved towards actual canvases. Using a somewhat unconventional circle-shaped canvas, his simple smileys were birthed into his artwork.
“It was just really a slow progression of me splashing paint, which is kind of crazy,” Paintz said. “I mean, I don’t really see why I have to have a boundary…The cleanest I do is these characters, they have clean lines and borders but I can still be messy and have fun with the art,” he said, referencing the artwork in his recent collection.
The location of his art studio was strategic and vital towards his career as an artist. In Hollywood, he enjoys the bustling environment and its cultivation of big names. It is very easy to meet other like-minded people and build networks in this beacon of creativity.
One of the most interesting things he mentioned was the almost clockwork routine of Hollywood and street art.
“With street art, everything’s temporary, so I can put it outside, it could be gone five days from now, or it could be gone in five minutes from now,” Paintz said. This makes the street a constant canvas, always recycling itself, ready for the next artist to cover it.
While this is a really cool way of expressing temporary art, Paintz also needed a way to immortalize his work, and that’s why he values his canvas work. When 2020 hit, he needed that outlet, because going outside got more difficult in the face of a global pandemic. His pieces at The Mondrian reflect this, being solely on canvas, yet also having a resemblance to the street art he does.
Jimmy Pierce carries a great theme throughout his work, always ringing notes of positivity even in difficult times. It’s during these times that he feels most motivated to get it out onto canvas, sending upbeat affirmations to himself and his followers. Artist or not, everyone has something to learn from him.
So don’t worry—take a breath, and keep on smiling!
