Interview

Josh Vernon Harnack

Josh Harnack uses visual art to communicate ideas, thoughts, and emotions to the world. He was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, where his spark for the arts began. After graduating high school in 2012, he moved to Vancouver to study film. Over the next three years, Josh’s passion shifted towards fine art. Frankly, he found himself too broke to do anything but stay home and paint.

During this time, Josh was diagnosed with cancer on three separate occasions, resulting in surgery, radiation treatment, and ultimately chemotherapy. In 2015, he moved back home to Edmonton where he began his professional career as an artist. A couple of years later, he graduated from NAIT with distinction, majoring in both Graphic Design and Visual Communication, all the while showing his works in exhibitions and galleries across Western Canada.

Though Josh’s work extends to many different mediums, he primarily specializes in oil and acrylic painting. His themes usually center around discovering childlike wonder and magic in our existentially threatening reality. Josh has received awards and grants in both fine art and design and has recently published a book about his rite of passage in the art world. Currently, he’s working on a wide range of projects, such as illustrating a fantasy novel, and painting a new series for his first-ever solo exhibition in late 2022.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“My first taste of the art world began back in high school in 2012, when my art instructor inspired me to join the Whyte Avenue Artwalk, a local weekend festival. The show yielded a small success with a few strangers and family friends purchasing some art, and I was hooked. However, fine art remained a hobby. My first love was acting.

When I enrolled in Vancouver film school, I was a student at a very expensive school, living in a very expensive city. The only thing I could afford to do was stay home and paint. Eventually, I decided to apply for a few shows in Vancouver. I made trips to and from these shows, walking, biking, and bussing with all my art because I had no car.

During this time, my passion began to change and I started to take my art more seriously. Once I graduated, I realized I loved fine art more than acting, so I enrolled at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and studied graphic design, followed by visual communication. I found these fields helped compliment the art, as I learned how to brand myself and build my own website while still thinking creatively. I did more art, entered more shows, and eventually it snowballed to where I am today.”

What inspires you?

“I am inspired by everything. I cannot afford to not be inspired by things. It’s a big part of my job as an artist. I have never been one to be comfortable with defining something so elusive and unconsious as inpiration. Part of the reason I do art is because I don't have the words to express what inspires me. But my mediums allow me to show you.

So, what inspires me most? Imagination. The lens in which we filter reality, from looking at the clouds and imagining animals in them, to swapping the heads of people and replacing them with animals. Imagination lends to endless possibilities where we are the gods who make the rules and set the parameters in the world where our creations exist.”

“My work is a message directed to the child in all of us, who yearns to escape from reality and get lost in imagination, where dreams and reality cross paths at every intersection. This struggle is found in each of my pieces: the corruption of realism with the surreal; the distortion of the physical world by our metaphysical imaginations.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“The themes I explore tackle a wide range of topics, and are all filtered through innocent and whimsical expression. Themes like global warming, religion, relationships, power and mental health.”

Which artists influence you most?

“Salvador Dali, Thomas Kinkade, and Joel Rea.”

How would you describe your work?

“My work is whimsical, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, and surreal.”

What is your creative process like?

“My creative process varies greatly depending on the type of art I am creating, the mediums I am using, and the style in which the art will be executed. My process can seem fairly chaotic at times, and very researched and detailed in others. Sometimes the work demands that I just dive in. Other times, it demands that I use precise math and calculations.

Like Picasso once said, ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.’ I, too, like to create a plan and define the rules on how to bring life to an idea. But once I begin, I rebel against it. The plan now only serves as a guide to help keep me on course and to show me where the rules can be broken.

I don't like limitations and expectations, even ones I set for myself. This allows my work to live in the realm of imagination where nothing is concrete, and the rules are made for the specific purpose of being bent.”

“I really like how I am able to be in control, and that my success as an artist is not determined by what others think of me and the roles I can play. My success and my failures with my art are my own. ”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“Artists shape the world we live in. We artists are responsible for stimulation of the senses and triggering our emotions. Artists serve as communicators to the mind and soul, and offer unlimited ways of thinking and comprehending ideas. Our role is to offer resources beyond the tangible, so that humanity may better understand each other, ourselves and the world.

Art has always been this way. As we evolve, the artists’ role will stay virtually unchanged. As communicators to the mind, artists use the medium to pass the message. As new mediums surface, the ways in which artist communicate with the mind will expand even further, offering an even more detailed and fuller picture of society.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share? Please also include any links to these (if applicable).

“I have written and published a book on my artwork and my artistic journey that is geared at inspiring emerging artists to pursue their passions. You can read more about it here.” 

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Website: www.harnack.ca

Instagram: @harnackart