Are logos art?

There are some pretty great logos out there. Some are so iconic they become tattoos (I’m looking at you Harley-Davidson). While no one has probably tattooed the Souza Financial logo on their body yet, we think we have a pretty cool logo. Our logo was created by a friend of mine, Dan Padilla, soon after SFG was founded in 2006.

Many of you know John Jansky, he’s a performance artist, known for his amazing speed paintings. He will paint something upside down, revealing the subject at the end. If you have not seen John paint, please check out the links below to his social media. John and I went to Danville High school together.

In 2014, I asked him to take my logo and give me his take on it. I didn’t give him any instructions, I just wanted a cool painting for the lobby of my office. This is what John gave me:

There is a lot going on in this painting so let me give you some of the finer details. Center of SFG letters- at the core of why I do what I do is my family; Jen and Truce. Behind the SFG letters – My hockey team; the Chicago Blackhawks. Outer ring – the now classic logo of my favorite baseball team, the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians). The maroon in our logo represents both my school colors of DHS and Southern Illinois University. The vibrant colors on this are great Jansky brushstrokes with his signature paint splatters gracing the entire thing.

I was blown away when I first saw it and I still love it to this day. It proudly greets anyone that enters our office.

That’s when I got the idea to have another great artist and long-time friend give me his interpretation of my logo. Part 2, coming later this week.

Click the links below to see John’s amazing art.

John Jansky’s YouTube
John Jansky Art on Facebook
John’s Instagram Page