Work samples

  • The Construction of Europe
    The Construction of Europe
    This work was begun in Warsaw, with marker and acrylic, and I worked on its abstract underpainting throughout the rest of trip. I commenced with oil, upon my return to Baltimore, all in response to video clips I'd gathered in Budapest, Warsaw, Brussels, and Paris. Seen relative to my earlier work, it is a vehement fusion of my abstract and narrative interests.
  • « La construction d’Europe »
    This has to do with all my key elements of interest, with painting responsive to actuality, with the fusion of media, with impression and texture becoming as if frozen, taken from time, a thing, or a motif, becoming as if a texture isolated, beyond symbolism and back into material. Sound, both found and per se musical, has to do with this "freezing", with this assertion of tone upon a play of images in which the tone wouldn't necessarily be explicit otherwise.
  • « Une autre Gestalt du Vieux Continent »
    This piece, coming fairly late in my explorations of montage, is also integrative in terms of its inclusion of some of my old analogue audio juxtaposed with non-musical situational audio.
  • The Construction of Europe (and archival shot of the work in progress)
    The Construction of Europe (and archival shot of the work in progress)
    (This in-progress shot has to do with the interplay of time and impression in the conceptual development of the piece.)

About John

Baltimore City
I have produced art, consistently, since childhood. I found academic art education very rewarding, and have also greatly valued my years of post-academic creative production.
Ranging in all manners of theory and content, I have always been prolific.
I'm working on a grand sensibility which will unite my productions in all media. 
All technical finitudes within all media are affecting my narrative process and all in conjunction with the "existentialism" involved.more

Video-Painterly Montage Gestalt

This has work has to do with the aggregation of my videographic work, over time. I put at least a sporadic emphasis on "montage", because I can't help it. The theory has been key, and inspiring,  both in the context film history, per se, and in the context of my lifelong exposure to pop culture, not to mention the fact that a flood of impressions, evocative for formally and in terms of narrative, may be one key tool in our making artistic sense of . . . the complicated world.

The medium is, very specifically, not the message, and video is not about painting. All the media are about perception, to a degree, and they are about material existence. 

One sensibility carries through all the work. All of it has to do with loosely implied "narrative" in constant confluence with the phenomena of existential and technical process, over time, with painterly-optical considerations, along with those of narrative, being brought into videographic conception.

Meanwhile, I love film, as well as fiction, incidentally. Much of this montage, and these fragments, with an emphasis which is per se optical, at least in part, may be joined with greater and more explicitly fleshed-out narrative. All these processes are to be further and more explicitly integrated, and my soon-approaching travel is key. I have planned my approach to video, and painting, over the next month, and upon my returned. I'll be working large, with productivity and the means of digital editing all in line.

(Video is no longer a reference point, for painting. All actions are integratively self-aware.)
  • « La construction d’Europe »
    This has to do with all my key elements of interest, with painting responsive to actuality, with the fusion of media, with impression and texture becoming as if frozen, taken from time, a thing, or a motif, becoming as if a texture isolated, beyond symbolism and back into material. Sound, both found and per se musical, has to do with this "freezing", with this assertion of tone upon a play of images in which the tone wouldn't necessarily be explicit otherwise.
  • « Une autre Gestalt du Vieux Continent »
    This piece, coming fairly late in my explorations of montage, is also integrative in terms of its inclusion of some of my old analogue audio juxtaposed with non-musical situational audio.
  • « Les États–Unis et la France : une fusion entre les villes, une fusion vernale et urbaine »
  • « De la mémoire soviétique »
  • « Paris, ré́duit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque »
  • Process Video Autumn 2018
    (This passage acts as a segue between painterly process documentation and the videographic medium itself.)
  • « des armes polonaises »
  • "Like A Bluebird In The Rain"
  • "Rainsound smooth montage trim"
  • « La pluie bruxelloise » (au contexte plus proprement vidéographique)

Video clips sprung from post-digital microanalysis, inclusion of earlier audio material, and connection to painterly process

This project is designed to be seen in terms of my overall synthesis. It deconstructs the optical (as well as auditory) aspects of video, and includes older (musical) audio produced much earlier.
  • « La pluie bruxelloise »
    I am currently converting all of my analogue audio recording, from the early 2000s, into mp3 format, largely for integration into my work with video. This is one of my tidier musical pieces. The semi-abstract visuals are simply some off-the-screen zoomed-in re-shooting of the video montage I'd put together relative to the European Quarter in Brussels, Belgium. The rain sound and the responsive piano are likewise original, though many years older.
  • Intermedia Process Cut 1
  • Intermedia Process Cut 2
  • Intermedia Process Cut 3
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70 - 68.2 Q elegant chop 01
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70 - 68.2 Q elegant chop 02
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70 - 68.2 Q elegant chop 03
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70 - 68.2 Q elegant chop 04
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70 - 68.2 Q elegant chop 05

Painting, perspectival movement, inclusive of that drawn from video

Time and perspective, as these effect visual phenomena, whether narrative or more purely optical, are that which unite my painting and my video. In terms both of co-responsive production, and of intermedia montage, I am uniting these media. All work, ultimately, is conceived to be seen on a large screen. Sensibilities are key, and exitential. There is traditionalism in some of my perception, though integration of the media is . . . properly . . . new.
  • A Long Reflection (on my juxtaposition of media)
    This is a fusion of painterly retrospective and moments of video, with recent painterly process being emphasized near the beginning, followed by much paintrely retrospective, with process explication, of my most specifically post-videographic painterly work, peaking towards the end.
  • The Construction of Europe (earlier in-progress)
    The Construction of Europe (earlier in-progress)
    This work, stretched later, and resolved by way of post-videographic oil painting, was extraordinarily rewarding in its earlier stages, on the go, with little drying time. I layed in with acrylic, and marker, capturing perspective and impression, in situ and also in response to video. (I later used clear primer, so as to retain the fruits of these efforts and to celebrate the texture and color of the Polish linen.)
  • La construction d'Europe (The Construction of Europe)
    La construction d'Europe (The Construction of Europe)
    This work is key, in terms of this synthesis. Painting, under raw circumstances of travel, led me to reflect, on the go, and to seriously refine later - with video as the key series of image bases providing a narrative and formal substrate for the painting which followed. Implied movement, and three-dimensionality, in a post-videographic sense, were key to the painterly process. Subsequent painterly moves had to do with compositional resolution - in a context bolstering this arrangement, of time, and movement, reconciled and captured on a two-dimensional surface.
  • « La centrale nucléaire au nord de Paris »
    « La centrale nucléaire au nord de Paris »
    This is a painting most specifically, and "merely", conceived in response to one particular video clip. It is in progress. While retaining interest in painterly composition as such, all objects and structures seen to the left of the nuclear station have to do with perspective which moved, around a key object which remained relatively stationary.
  • « La centrale au nord de Paris »
    This short clip is the multi-perspectival foundation behind the painting « La centrale nucléaire au nord de Paris ». All of this work has to do with visual perception, with or without narrative, put reflective of the immediate and the gradual passage of time.
  • « La centrale nucléaire au nord de Paris »
    « La centrale nucléaire au nord de Paris »
    This work is key, in my "post-videographic" terms. Whereas the highly ambitious "The Construction of Europe" was post-videographic as a matter of circumstance and dynamic response, this work was inspired by and drawn exclusively from . . . one brief and particular videographic clip.
  • Process Video Autumn 2018
    (This passage acts as a segue between painterly process documentation and the videographic medium itself.)
  • « L’aéronef Grosclaude-Herbert »
    « L’aéronef Grosclaude-Herbert »
    This has to do with perspective, and movement, of a fairly complicated object, with multiple vanishing points, and it has to do with the self-aware ordering of the picture plane itself, as itself, as an object independent of narrative.

Montage, decoconstructed, re-assembled

This has to do with micro-analysis of select videographic passages, selected in simulatanesouly consideration both of the value of the stills in question, as such, and of the appreciated effect of their juxtaposition, in context, over time.

In at least one case, a video clip featurung a painting is included in a montage passage which is otherwise non-painterly.
  • eight consecutive moments of deconstructed fade-montage
    "eight consecutive moments of deconstructed fade-montage"
    This series of video stills was extracted from one of the smoothest passages of transition-montage included in my most recent videographic and post-production activity. I am happy that it is outright . . . pretty, the original video passage, that is, and perhaps the series of related stills.
  • « Un passage bruxellois »
    « Un passage bruxellois »
  • « Un passage entre la peinture et le montage vidéographique »
    « Un passage entre la peinture et le montage vidéographique »
  • « un autre montage parisien »
    « un autre montage parisien »

Video stills drawn primarily from montage

This project is half-tangential, in that it has sprung from the priority placed on video itself.

However, it is key, as an indicator of filmic, or videographic, sensibility, and it gets thoroughly into the deep minutia inherent within the medium, and within all media, and the creative process, approached existentially.

In every selection, I am thinking of the interrelation between these media, fixations of sensibility and of technique, per se digital or otherwise.
  • « Paris, réduite encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 11
    « Paris, réduite encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 11
  • Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 2
    Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 2
  • Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 4
    Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 4
  • Baltimore 2018 67.70-68.2 Montage Moment 02
    Baltimore 2018 67.70-68.2 Montage Moment 02
  • « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 01
    « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 01
    This shot has been selected as a gesture towards ideas of quality aside from my interests in videographically super-imposed images.
  • « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 02
    « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 02
  • « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 03
    « Paris, réduit encore, tout vers la bibliothèque » Moment 03
  • Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 1
    Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 1
  • Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 2
    Paris, plus grande et étendue Moment 2

Multi-Paradigmatic Painting : A Retrospective

I continue painting, though video is key, and I am currently digitizing all of my older analogue audio recording (largely for integration into video). "Multi-paradigmatic" is crucial to my entire outlook, in terms of any or all media. This idea is that any one artistically theoretical approach has its strengths, and possibly its weaknesses.

By revisiting works oveworks over time, in part, and  more generally by being cognizant to multiple approaches, always, I hope to produce work that transcends the limitations of any one theoretical approach. Rather than rejecting content, for instance, in favor of any one approach to form, or optics, I would like to have all these assets at my disposal, reflected in my final results, though any one wave of activity may energetically emphasize one focus, or a few.


I hope, always, to flesh out this breadth, fairly flamboyantly, while retaining elegance that may be appreciated "simply".
  • Between Two Valleys
    "Between Two Valleys"
  • Fabulous Mithra
    "Fabulous Mithra"
  • Eternal Rome
    "Eternal Rome"
  • Puella, Somnium
    "Puella, Somnium"
  • The Moment
    "The Moment"
  • The Second Pastoral
    "The Second Pastoral"
  • Studies From Rembrandt
    "Studies From Rembrandt"
  • Strange Eurasian Twilight
    "Strange Eurasian Twilight"
  • La Vierge (in displaced context)
    "La Vierge (in displaced context)"
    An element of the "multi-paradigmatic", here, is that the painting's backdrop, the rooftop, the antenna, are traces of the painting when I'd been taking it in another direction. Then I set in with the Virgin Mary, with whatever symbolism, seen in bipolar terms relative to the abstract peculiarity around her. I like the power of this duality. Then, with the flat and non-polar aesthetics of the drab antenna, I set the moral drama aside, while also maxing out on it. I want all these things to serve, interactively and simultaneously, as conceptual springboards, with a result which makes the most of both forethought and whim.
  • « La réalité des ténèbres, la synthèse »
    « La réalité des ténèbres, la synthèse »

Post-Digital Photography

Digitally re-treated photography
  • « La voiture »
    « La voiture »
  • « En hiver »
    « En hiver »
  • greatswampmontagered,plus
    greatswampmontagered,plus
  • « Le cuivre vert au ciel »
    « Le cuivre vert au ciel »
  • « Jeanne d’Arc turquoise »
    « Jeanne d’Arc turquoise »
  • « La Vierge I »
    « La Vierge I »
  • « La Vierge II »
    « La Vierge II »
  • « Jeanne d’Arc obscure »
    « Jeanne d’Arc obscure »

The Figure, Fragmented, Painterly

  • Keltic Madonna (portrait)
    "Keltic Madonna (portrait)"
  • Keltic Madonna (neck)
    "Keltic Madonna (neck)"
  • Keltic Madonna (breasts)
    "Keltic Madonna (breasts)"
  • Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #1
    Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #1
  • Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #2
    Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #2
  • Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #3
    Thin Woman In Black portrait detail #3

Warszawa, several videographic moments

Tangent to my videographic work is the continued examination and selection of stills extracted therefrom. Warsaw is a key city, not very publicized, in transition.
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 01
    Varsovie 2 Moment 01
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 03
    Varsovie 2 Moment 03
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 04
    Varsovie 2 Moment 04
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 05
    Varsovie 2 Moment 05
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 06
    Varsovie 2 Moment 06
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 07
    Varsovie 2 Moment 07
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 08
    Varsovie 2 Moment 08
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 10 zoom-crop
    Varsovie 2 Moment 10 zoom-crop
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 12
    Varsovie 2 Moment 12
  • Varsovie 2 Moment 10
    Varsovie 2 Moment 10

Retrospective inclusive both of works on canvas & works on paper

This selection is meant, by way of a split media emphasis, to emphasize a manifold approach to imaging.

The graphite works also feature a more specific and focused approach to narrative.

Thinking about all of this, this project along with the others, and my overall emphasis on synthesis, I am wrestling between, and striving to unite, highly inspired approaches to medium, and theory, practice, and the sporadic role of narrative, of sensibility both explicit and implied.
  • 1925
    "1925"
  • Life Forward
    "Life Forward"
    This work began with an interest in finding the Japanese for "destiny". I was given the Sino-Japanese characters visible at the top left. They are more literally to be translated as "life forward". As I proceeded, this inter-linguistic conceptual play played a role in the continuing evolution of the painterly process.
  • The Apogee
    "The Apogee"
  • Post-Painterly Abstraction II
    "Post-Painterly Abstraction II"
  • The Student
    "The Student"
  • (Untitled theater set concept)
    (Untitled theater set concept)
  • Degas Study
    "Degas Study"
  • Prometheus, suffering
    "Prometheus, suffering"
    Aside from the joy of rediscovering graphite after years of paintings, this work was narratively compelled. Prometheus, and an association I assert between he and Apollo, has played a role in the metanarrative behind some of my literary effort.
  • Treeline Encounter
    "Treeline Encounter"
  • Painterly, extended retrospective