Jon Luvelli

Sidney Laen was a childhood stage name for Jon Luvelli an Italian-American Artist, street photographer, actor and writer best known for his black-and-white images depicting idiosyncrasies of people in rural areas. His work conveys social messages addressing economical and civil issues. He's noted for his macabre candid photography. He coined the title Fine Art Documentarian for photographers merging documentary and art photography. His work of rural life, social and environmental issues are exhibited and held in prominent museums, galleries, private collections and published worldwide. Born in Italy to an Italian father and an African-American mother, Luvelli was adopted at 6 days old, moved to the USA to live with English parents on a small town farm. His mother was a College Professor and father a Land Developer. Sidney Laen was the name his adoptive mother gave him as a child actor and writer. Luvelli is now using his birth name Jon Luvelli and known to most as Luvelli .Luvelli is ambidextrous and could write with both hands in cursive before the 1st grade. Most of his childhood consisted of studying with the strict influence of his mother, but he loved what he studied and particularly loved archaeology. He was taken to see the King Tutankhamun Exhibition, which he says is what sparked his interest in the field. The theatrical side showed as he put together his own play for his family at age 8 instructing childhood friends to play specific characters of his creation. In grade school he performed and won several times for his speeches some created by Bill Cosby. "Noah's Ark", "The Big Nose", etc. He then found his love of writing which had kept him very private, not releasing anything for publishing but a few poems, mostly interested in the study of the mind and social behavior. Luvelli also has done voice overs, appeared in commercials, films, designed art for Warner Bros., Nike and many more. He has written songs for many artists as a ghost writer, and some for his own music career. In 1998 Luvelli was diagnosed with L.L.I. Low Latent Inhibition. His art has always been private and behind the scenes as he wished. Spending most of his time working on writings as well as inventions. After the death of his mother in 2001, Luvelli suffered from severe panic attacks which kept him isolated and even more reclusive. In 2012 Luvelli stated he was opening up more to the public and started releasing private artwork as well as the long awaited book "One Block". He is also working on several film projects that will follow including the controversial documentary "The Transient Project" and musical album "Skitz".