John Sousa, submitted artwork
John Sousa
Painting
Springboro, Ohio USA
John lives and has a studio in Springboro, Ohio. He was a National Scholastic Art Scholar and graduated with a BFA from Bradley University in 1982. John was one of the featured artists in issues #167 and #149, Midwest edition, of New American Paintings. John has exhibited his work in a dozen states across the country; most recently at: The Painting Center in New York, Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH, Art Access Gallery, Columbus, OH, Grace Albrecht Art Gallery Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH, Riffe Gallery in Columbus, OH, UC Blue Ash College Gallery in Blue Ash, OH, the Museum of New Art in Armada, MI, and the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. He has received two Montgomery County Art Fellowships and was awarded an AIA Grant by Summerfair in 2014. John is a mixed-media artist whose long-term focus has been language, photography, and how we perceive and infer meaning. He believes in using style as well as the formal elements of art (line, shape, color, etc.) to explore his long-term interests more thoroughly. John has always been concerned with the formal qualities of art and constantly pushes the boundaries of the materials he uses.
Works
John Sousa, submitted artwork
These works, from my Chaos Fields series, are mixed-media paintings which incorporate collage and new dimensional printing technologies. I use fragments of images-text, symbols, and patterns, which are silk-screen printed (using dimensional inks) and then collaged onto the work. The works are then painted (using primarily white to enhance the texture), producing a uniquely textured surface. Over this surface are printed digital images using new printing technologies, such as UV-cured printing. These allow me to print over the textured surfaces. I then go back in with more painting, collage, and printing, creating a subtle layering. I see the various printing technologies as new ways to apply paint. I think of these as sumptuous visual poems. The works are intimate, and they encourage looking. The painterly and textural elements entice the viewer to not only see, but to want to feel the artwork. They are collage-based mashups of diverse and competing styles. They incorporate aspects of Formalism, Pop, Collage, Visual Poetry, Dada, and more. Our perception is very fragmented. Our minds stitch the fragments together into a smoother view. Understanding this, I want to create mixed-media paintings that are not literal but suggestive. I aim to create work that is both visually stimulating and thought-provoking. The more time one spends looking, the more they will see, and the more they will see how things are related. These works are not representations of the world; they are mo
