Interview

Jul 15

Wade Johnston

Wade is a full time artist working in a variety of mediums, with an emphasis on digital collage, print making, with a bit of satire and humor that looks at our relationships and the world around us. He has degrees in art, communications, and graphic design and has been a practicing artist for more than 40 years. Wade’s works are in private collections as well as some corporate venues. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1990 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Art with an emphasis on painting and print making. In 2000, he graduated from Pratt with a Masters degree in Design Communications. From 2004 through 2019, Wade authored the blog Modular 4 KC; posting more than 8000 articles on design, art, music, architecture, travel, and the humanities before letting it expire during the COVID pandemic. Currently, he is a full time artist living and working in the Midwest and traveling the world as time and money allow.

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

“I’ve always been interested in art. My mother was an illustrator and one of my earliest memories is drawing with her around age 3. So, art has been present in my life from the beginning. I made a career as a graphic designer spending more than 30 years working in the industry and it has definitely influenced my art work. During that period, I continued to make art, but it was never my full time career until recently. I went to art school in college and fully intended to pursue art full time after graduation, but life gets in the way sometimes and throws you the occasional curve ball. Five years ago, I decided to make fine art a full time career and never looked back. It’s something I should have done decades ago.”

What inspires you?

“Currently, I’m a little obsessed with vintage men’s pulp magazines. The headlines and imagery, and how they perceive masculine and feminine roles. They were in a sense the click bait of their time. I’m also fascinated with American views on the perceived idea of idyllic suburban lifestyle or the memory of it, and how that view point has shaped American culture since the late 1940s. These themes have inspired and carried through my work evolving over time but always present in some sense like a continuing thread through the work regardless of the medium. As a child of the 1960’s and 70’s that grew up in a suburban neighborhood, I think there is a subconscious view or memory of what was supposed to be juxtaposed with the reality of what actually was and is today.”

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

“The work that uses titles and headlines from the vintage pulp magazines tends to lean on two themes. The headlines are reassembled or combined to create something more absurd than the original usually with a slight sexual reference to it. This is often combined with the magazine headline, usually something like “Man’s Peril” or “Real Man.” The second component of late have been the collaged figures that combine male and female sections creating what could be considered a sexually neutral figure. There is always a sort of macho element combined with a feminine element that in some ways plays with the absurdity of the cover illustrations on the source magazine material. I try to call into question the way society attempts to assign roles based on gender and historical values and views. In addition, there are always hand drawn and painted elements that add to the visual compositions and add a sense of visual rhythm to the work. This is probably a carryover from my years as a graphic designer and illustrator.”

How would you describe your work?

“Absurdist with a sense of humor. Abstract collage could be another term. I’m not sure it falls into a specific school like “abstract expressionism.” Robert Rauschenberg and John Baldessari have been big influences on my work so maybe “neo-dada.” Actually, that might be more fitting since I have also been influenced by the original dada movement from the early 20th century.”

Which artists influence you most?

“As I mentioned earlier Robert Rauschenberg, John Baldessari, as well as Barbara Kruger, Hellen Frankenthaler, earlier work from Rothko, Elain De Kooning. Another influence has been mid century fashion photography by George Dambier, and Irving Penn. I suppose I could include some of the illustrators from the golden age of illustration like Al Parker. While I have never worked in that kind of illustrative style, I admire the work and it often ends up being part of the collage work I have currently been working on.”

“Currently, I’m a little obsessed with vintage men’s pulp magazines. The headlines and imagery, and how they perceive masculine and feminine roles.”

What is your creative process like?

“I research looking at images online searching for components that can be dissected and reassembled. These usually get added to mood boards for later evaluation. I also fill notebooks with ideas for the type components for things I find in real life as well as online. Often, I sketch out the basic concept and add notes about my thought process at the time and any external influences for later referral as I work. The base image is usually assembled in Photoshop and then printed to size on a large format printer which is mounted to a wood panel for fishing. At this point, I paint and draw over the surface adding elements to the surface until I reach a point where I am satisfied. In the last year, I have been producing similar images that are created completely in the digital space that are also output as large format prints that are mounted to panels and sealed. These images are struck once printed making the work unique and one of a kind never to be printed again.”

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

“To inspire, question, provoke, document, criticize, and reflect societal norms and values. I hope that all artwork shows some form of creative expression that helps create a healthy and open minded society. To be honest I’m not sure I have an answer on how it’s evolving. Social media has had a massive impact on the art world and who considers themselves a visual artist. It has also had a huge impact on how people see and interact with art and what is considered art. It used to be if you wanted to experience visual art you went to a museum or gallery. Today you hop on the internet and can find it everywhere, share it everywhere, comment on it, steal it and on and on. It’ll be interesting to see where the art world is in another 20 years. Especially with the development of AI technologies and the influence of contemporary pop culture.”