You know that “starving artists” crowd? Full of talent but short on recognition? Tell them all it takes is a big smile, a good attitude and a tireless work ethic to get noticed and they may take umbrage with the sheer simplicity of the suggestion.

But for Columbus plein air artist Joe Lombardo, that’s really all it took for his fledgling but successful career to take off. The 25-year-old has the resume of an artist nearly twice his age.

Lombardo has had his work exhibited in Ohio, Iowa, Indiana and the artistic promised land of New York City. He’s lectured and has collections in Arkansas. His paintings are included in the Ohio Supreme Court’s collection. He’s even curated and has had work exhibited in Ireland.

“I have always had a need to create. I love making something from nothing,” Lombardo says. “I vividly recall my satisfaction with the variety of textures and the effects I could create with fluid paint and brushes.”

Lombardo fell in love with the materials and the fluidity of paint – the way it rolls, drags and squeezes off the bristles. He loves how unmethodical the process is, and its directness and swiftness. And he loves to experiment with color.

The Elyria native stuck with his comfort zone and pursued a bachelor of fine arts in painting and drawing at CCAD, graduating as valedictorian in 2006. He received his master’s – also in painting and drawing – this year from BGSU. While in school, Lombardo learned as much outside of the classroom as he did inside.

“I tried my best to ignore what I had heard of the starving artist perception and followed my instincts. I admit I did not understand how hard it would be to be successful as an artist, but my family supported me, I believed in myself and I relied on hard work,” he says. “I was never the most talented artist, but I am one of the hardest working artists I know of.”

Of course, talent is subjective. Columbus artist Michael McEwan, one of Lombardo’s mentors at CCAD, describes the student as one of the best he’s ever had. “He will be very successful someday,” McEwan says.

Lombardo’s awards also indicate he’s quite talented – first place at a spring show in Lima, a regents graduate professional fellowship from the Ohio Board of Regents, the Mary T. Kinney Memorial Scholarship at CCAD, and so on and so forth. He’s the youngest artist to have been included at the East of Eden landscape invitational at the Schumacher Gallery, and at The Law, The Land and the People at the Ohio Judicial Center (where his work was selected to be included in the Ohio State Supreme Court’s permanent collection).

A constant observer of his surroundings, Lombardo takes his themes from what he sees – landscape, cars, city street views, whatever. “Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Painting in the city comes with an audience and moving subjects. I consider it performance art,” he says. “Painting in a more natural setting is peaceful.”

Wherever he sets up shop, Lombardo’s goal is to paint something that is familiar to a majority of his audience. He wants people to relate to his work, and hopes as his career continues to convey a little bit of Thomas Hart Benton and Woody Guthrie’s clarity of the American experience.

That objective could explain why many of Lombardo’s pieces have car/parking lot themes. “With oil prices rising and all of the talk of the energy crisis, how could I ignore the relevancy of the carscape? I believe parking lots have become emblematic of the contemporary landscape,” Lombardo says.

He is also drawn to the repetitious shapes and colors represented in a crowded parking lot, and the increasingly ubiquitous nature of automobiles.

“I would say my work is my best attempt to paint the landscape as I have come to know it in 2008. I am looking for more than the run of the mill pastoral landscape painting,” Lombardo says. “I do not edit what I see, and what I see is cars … everywhere.”

His perspective translated into his master’s thesis show at BGSU titled A Lot. “I crammed the gallery with 67 paintings of cars in parking lots, hung from floor to ceiling. The walls were congested, like a parking lot, and people reacted with a sort of shock. That’s what I wanted,” Lombardo says.

Other than his exhibit in New York City, in which his work was selected by art historian Irving Sandler, he refers to A Lot as his biggest show yet, but admits he’s perpetually in pursuit of “that biggest show.”

In the meantime, he’ll continue networking and painting and working as hard as he can to get his work seen. His latest exhibit – as part of a group show– runs through Sept. 6 at Art Access Gallery in Bexley, and his newest role is as adjunct professor at CCAD.

“I just want to be making art and showing my work to as many people as possible. I want to visit as many shows, museums and functions as I can, travel as much as I can afford and never turn down an opportunity, no matter how involved,” Lombardo says. “I’m very fortunate to love work. I am learning and trying as much as I can as fast as I can. A big smile and positive attitude have opened many doors.”

To catch a glimpse of Lombardo’s work, visit www.jlombardoart.com.  

Alicia Kelso is editor of CityScene.