Joe “The Artbrush” Puskas recently finished his 42nd mural for Firehouse Subs. In addition commercial murals, Puskas does a lot of residential artwork and runs his own T-shirt company.
KEEP YOUR ROCK
Puskas is originally from Cleveland, the home of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. “My father was transferred here, so we moved the whole family.”
I’LL TAKE MY SKYNYRD
Puskas has been in Jacksonville for 23 years now and has no regrets about leaving Cleveland. “I love it [in Jacksonville]. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
NO SCHOOL
Like many artists, Puskas was obviously born with a good bit of natural talent. Unlike many artists, he never sought any formal training to hone those talents. “I’ve been drawing and painting ever since I was a little kid.”
SOME SCHOOL
He graduated from Terry Parker in 1980.
YOU’VE WORN HIS WORK
Puskas has his own T-shirt company and has produced shirts for the Shrimp Festival, the Kingfish Tournament and the Gator Bowl. “I’ve also done murals for interior designers. I’m a commercial artist, basically.”
WHY ART?
Growing up, Puskas’ father owned a hardware store, which eventually went out of business. Seeing that made him realize that he would rather be self-employed than rely on business to walk in the door. A baby played a role, too. “To make a long story short, we just had a baby, so I said, ‘I’ll try to do art because I can do some of it at home and I can take the baby with me. I can be self-employed and take care of the baby instead needing day care.’ It snowballed from there.”
HIS OWN STUFF
While his work for Firehouse always has a theme, a majority of the time Puskas’ clients let him use as much artistic license as he wants. “Most of the things I do are out of my head. Probably 75 percent of the stuff I do is out of my head. Technical things you have to have reference material for, like fire trucks, if you want to make them look realistic.”
FAVORITES
“I like doing animals and fantasy stuff. That’s what I was into when I was a young man starting to get into art — monsters and dragons and stuff like that.”
SIDE JOB
Having a T-shirt business not only allows Puskas to have his work seen all over town, it also allows him to get pretty creative for his clients. The size of the design compared to a 6-by-12 foot mural also presents its own challenges. “It’s pretty much all you on that stuff, it’s all your design. I love it and it’s more difficult.”
SURVIVOR
A man can make a buck in Jacksonville as an artist and Puskas is living proof. “I have been doing it for 12 years.”
WHAT ELSE?
“I like to cook. I might have been a chef. I probably would have pursued some formal training for that.“
TIES TO THE NORTH
“I have all kinds of family up there. I have a big family.”
HOBBIES
“I play golf. I’m not terrible. I’m probably an 18 handicap. I shoot anywhere from 85-95.”
APPRECIATIVE OF OTHERS
“I love going to museums. Every time we travel somewhere, we always go to the museum. Cleveland has a great art museum, a fantastic art museum. Jacksonville, they’re nice, but I’ve been to some of the nicest ones in the world. We just went to Germany and I saw a killer museum there, in Munich. I haven’t been to Paris.”
DREAM TRIP
“I think Italy would probably be the dream trip. I’d like to go see the Sistine Chapel and that kind of stuff; Michelangelo’s work. I’d definitely be in awe.”
HERE!HERE!
Puskas isn’t exactly as common as Smith or Jones, but Puskas did encounter someone from outside his clan. Like Jacksonville, children in Cleveland attend smaller middle schools then finish at a large high school. “The first day of high school, the professor in homeroom said ‘Joseph Puskas’ and two of us raised our hands. I spell my name J-O-S-E-P-H and the other kid spelled his J-O-Z-E-F.”
FAMILY
Puskas is married to Marguerite and they have an 11-year-old son, Anthony.
— by Mike Sharkey