TAC TILE TALES
Left: Artist Jim Inzero,
in his studio. Inset: Hula,
from his wave collection.
Above: A newer series
depicts abstract flowers.
“I wanted to do something
really happy,” Inzero says.
Prices vary; pieces are
generally between $1,200
and $4,000, and nothing
is more than $10,000.
Inzero’s 8-inch ceiling tins
are $250.
● RETAIL RADAR JIM INZERO GALLERY
Waxing Poetic
Artist Jim Inzero creates his stunning art
with melted wax.
a trip to mexico changed Jim Inzero’s life. The Connecticut native
studied architecture and interior design in college, thinking it was “a
steady and consistent way of being creative,” he says. But, while visiting his mother-in-law, he joined her in a class on the encaustic method
of art. “I was instantly hooked,” Inzero says. He returned home,
created two encaustic pieces, and sold both very quickly. That was in
2004. “The momentum started,” he says now.
Encaustic painting dates to 100 A.D., when the Egyptian upper class
employed the technique to create mummy portraits. More recently, it
has been practiced by renowned artists such as Jasper Johns and Di-
ego Rivera. For Inzero, the process entails melting tiny wax pellets in
a skillet over a camp stove. He then adds a powder pigment, and when
it’s liquified, brushes it onto a canvas made of wood. The wax dries
instantly, “like a drip candle,” he says. Inzero uses a torch to soften the
brush strokes. The colors mix and emerge from beneath.
“It’s literally thousands of layers,” he says. “It could be
several inches thick.” The material is durable—it won’t
fade or melt in the sun.
Inzero does not make prints, so each piece is one of a
kind. “Everything is completely unique,” he says. “When
people buy, they’re getting my original art.”
During the creative process, Inzero wears an apron
and a respirator with a complete ventilation system to
protect himself. With each new piece, he says, “I have
no idea what it’s going to look like.” When he thinks it’s
done, he takes it to his gallery. “Then I sit with it. I may
feel it’s not finished and I will change something,” he
says. “This art is a moving process. It’s melting, it’s fluid.
It’s never complete.”
By 2007, Inzero realized he could make a living as an
encaustic artist and stepped away from his interior-de-
sign career. He moved into studio
space above the Point Pleasant
Beach shop, Stella e Luna, owned
by his wife, Lauren. There, he was
a hidden treasure, tucked away on
the second floor, but sought out
by those in the know. Then, last
fall, the space adjacent to Stella
e Luna opened up, giving Inzero
ground-floor exposure. “The foot traffic is enormous
here,” he says. Open on weekends year-round, with plans
to extend hours during the summer, Inzero greets every
customer who walks in the door. “I can’t have someone
else here. It’s my passion; it’s my life,” he explains. “This
is my calling, and I never get sick of explaining the
process.” —Lauren Payne
502 Bay Avenue
Pt. Pleasant Beach
732-451-2666
jiminzero.com
A blowtorch is
used to soften the
pigmented wax for
blending.
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BY DEBORAH CARTER AND SUSAN BRIERLY BUSH
