I am interested in the metaphorical potential of unorthodox painting materials.
Kansas City Art Institute, BFA, 1985
University of Florida, MFA, 2002
John Westmark grew up in the South, where his family attended a small Southern Baptist church. Every Sunday, his mother would bring a pencil and paper to the church service and draw during the sermon to keep him from jumping around. He was mesmerized by her drawings and his interest in art-making grew from this early experience. John went on to receive a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MFA from the University of Florida.
John’s work begins with collecting store-bought paper sewing patterns; the kind you find in a craft/fabric store for making your own garment or costume. These amazing little envelopes, with their paper patterns and instructions, are really schematics with a unique set of construction markings and text. The paper is extremely thin and delicate, which is an interesting dichotomy; this fragile tissue is the overlay for the material that becomes our outer skin. When he looks at the paper patterns, John sees figures, pieces of aircraft and orwellian machines.
John applies the patterns directly to the canvas with a PVA size (glue). The patterns fuse to the canvas and paint. Each piece is systematically developed via drawings and once he’s comfortable with the direction, he will begin a painting. There is a constant back and forth between collage application and painting.
The overriding message or theme in John’s work is the question of whether what you're looking at is a warning or a celebration? Something rising or descending? Is it a machine or a figure? All of these questions resonate to our current culture.
Upon first glimpse, there is a vague familiarity to John Westmark’s paintings. Closer examination yields the discovery of an unexpected material: sewing patterns. The viewer can then only marvel at the surprising synergy John creates between these disparate materials; inherently fragile paper combines with paint and canvas to create fascinating pieces that exude strength and solidity.
