Jerome Tiunayan

Chicago-based painter Jerome Tiunayan synthesizes personal storytelling, comics-inspired illustration and gallows humor to recast the Hero’s Journey for our postmodern age. 

The first-generation Filipino-American was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he consumed a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons, Archie Comics and daily strips including ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’ ‘The Far Side’ and ‘Dilbert.’ Jerome studied kinesiology and exercise science before pivoting to art: the bleak, inky catharsis of his earliest professional work fell by the wayside when he made the decision to focus on painting the semi-autobiographical misadventures of his now-signature character and the boy’s faithful canine sidekick, inspired by Jerome’s dog Mochi. “I just wanted to tell stories, and make some shit I could see myself in,” he says. “One day, a very clear, matter-of-fact voice popped in my head: ‘Hey, you should just paint — and you should paint that character.’ It’s really that simple. Wherever that thought came from, I’m so glad I followed it.” 

Jerome relocated to Chicago after contributing work to group exhibitions across the city. He first appeared at Vertical Gallery as part of 2024’s Summer Group Show, and resurfaced at year’s end for our annual Holiday Group Show. Jerome next appeared in the gallery’s 12-Year Anniversary Show in April 2025, and five months later, he co-headlined ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Joseph Renda Jr. and Laura Catherwood.