Today we’d like to introduce you to John Forse.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in Baytown, Texas, a suburb of Houston. When I was a kid, I got in trouble for drawing naked people. They were really nice, however, done in graphite on carefully-folded notebook paper, bound with tape and provocatively titled ‘Sex.’ Unfortunately, I was pipped at the post by Madonna’s photo book Sex. You could say that was my first foray into actual art production.
Some years later, I received my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Applied Design and Visual Arts at University of Houston Clear Lake before going on to the University of Houston main campus, where I received an MFA in Painting.
Since then, I’ve taught watercolor, drawing, and 2D design & color theory at the University of Houston and Texas A & M Commerce. As a freelance artist, I have worked with multiple publications including Glasstire and SUPLEX. My partner and I currently maintain a studio at Box13 Artspace. We are engaged and have a cat.
Please tell us about your art.
I find it hard to label myself as a painter, illustrator, or sculptor because my practice has always been interdisciplinary. That’s probably to do with my interest in the notion of mediums and exploring its relationship to messaging and artmaking. As of late, my practice has begun to gravitate towards new media and other non-traditional methods of artistic production. It first started when I was a teen and fell out of drawing, working digitally for a few years. That was in the mid to late-nineties, so computers were relatively capable but expressionally limited when compared to traditional media. Many of those limitations are still somewhat present, but with the ubiquity of powerful devices and electracy’s spread, the digital medium has become more central to my practice.
Discursive mechanics inform my process. I would summarize them as polemic because I use satire, often incorporating found images and forms, to address the interstices of personal and shared social experience. To borrow from Hegel, I feel my work is my present, apprehended in image and form. By my present, I mean my own little slice of disjunction within the tenuous unity of now. It’s difficult to get outside of my own head, so when working so, I try to document my own unique navigation of ongoing dialectics. The imagery comes about as attempts to articulate the noise of living and experience using the phenomena of life.
My most recent work is an ontological exploration of post-capitalist production modes and the art object, realized through the manipulation of both open-source and privatized mass images via digital distribution and large-scale giclee canvas prints. As a professional artist, it is difficult to ignore the market’s role in privatizing things behind paywalls and within commodifiable forms. It’s been cathartic, even if in hindsight it feels like I’ve just contributed to the privatization of discourse.
I do also keep a sketchbook and add something every day. It’s a big contributor to my artmaking and general consciousness of my surroundings. These things may remain doodles or eventually be realized as comics. I do wish I had learned the guitar or something sexy but I learned to draw instead and it’s at the point where it’s fun instead of just frustrating.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
The biggest issues artists face today are meta-issues, most notably: social, economic, and environmental. We need all the brains on that stuff.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My website is located at johnmforse.wordpress.com. I also maintain two Instagram profiles: @johnmforse (which features the majority of my personal work and classroom demos) and @lifechoiceinc (transgressive digital work based on commodity and media forms). I am also a regular comic contributor to Glasstire. I am currently in talks about a drawing-centric exhibition and workshop at the Houston Community College Central Campus.
Contact Info:
- Website: johnmforse.wordpress.com
- Email: johnmforse@gmail.com
- Instagram: @johnmforse @lifechoiceinc
Image Credit:
Portrait: Melinda Laszczynski
Artwork: Courtesy of the artist
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