John Newsom (born 1970 in Hutchinson, Kansas) is an American painter best known for his thickly layered, gestural paintings of pastoral flora and fauna subject matter.

Early life and education

Newsom grew up in Kansas and Oklahoma. He completed high school in 1988 at the prestigious

Interlochen Arts Academy Interlochen Center for the Arts ( '; also known as I.C.A. or Inty) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit corporation which operates Visual arts education, arts education institutions and Music venue, performance venues. Established in 1928 b ...

located in northern Michigan. In 1992 he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

and subsequently moved to New York City, where he attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

’s studio arts program. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from NYU at the age of 24.

Career

Painting

Newsom is best known for combining multiple techniques of formal painting strategies onto large canvases, featuring dynamic spectacles of the natural world. His paintings are created by overlapping coats of heavy oil paint which give rise to a highly gestural and intuitive formal vocabulary. Evenly toned backgrounds of color are juxtaposed with expressionistic splashes of white oil paint. In an added surface, Newsom paints recurrent monochromatic geometric shapes such as squares or circles in a hard-edge manner. He then renders the subject matter with a densely thick layering of various brushstrokes. Newsom consistently paints a wide variety of animals and flora. His reduced subject matter and calligraphic style, has been compared to the works of

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980) was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. "Guston worked in a number of artistic modes, from Renaissance-inspired figuration to formally accomplis ...

, for the reason that by focusing on a limited, but meaningful subject matter, an individual technique matures. Moreover, Newsom’s work has been interpreted as allegorical still lifes that capture the essence of

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

: "The tradition of the great naturalists – creating works of art that explore the complex relationships in nature."

Personal life

Newsom lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with his wife Cassie Newsom and their two children Luke and Ruby Newsom.Allegories of Nation, CHARTA 2010, is dedicated to both.

Recent solo exhibitions

* 2013 MARC STRAUS, ''Bestiary'', New York NY (forthcoming) * 2011-2012 The Richard J. Massey Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, ''Crescendo'', New York NY (cat.) * 2011 Patrick Painter Inc., ''Nocturne Paintings'', Los Angeles CA, Patrick Painter Inc., ''Motifs and Methods'', Los Angeles CA * 2009 Patrick Painter Inc., ''Beyond the Horizon'', Los Angeles CA, Lattuada Gallery, ''Rebels and Raptors'', Milan, Italy (cat.)

Publications

* 2015 John Newsom: Paintings and Works on Paper 2012-2015, New York: MARC STRAUS. * 2011 John Newsom: Crescendo, Milan: Charta. * 2010 John Newsom: Allegories of Naturalism, Milan: Charta.

References

External links

* http://www.johnnewsom.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Newsom, John Living people 1970 births