John Greiner-Ferris is a multi-disciplinary artist. My artwork has always been about, and will continue to be about, the individual’s struggle to maintain individuality and dignity in the face societal pressures—both real and imagined.
My work flows between these multiple disciplines from which I borrow. My practice ranges from the traditional written word and photography, to non-traditional theater/performance where I’ve used traditional theater elements (e.g. lighting, costumes) as well as non-traditional elements (e.g. movement, magical realism), to my current visual work composed of mixed media (original text, image transfer, drawing, paint, wood) and conceptual art.
I am very much informed by the theater. You don’t lean back in a theater seat and say, “Entertain me.” For the actors to do their jobs well, the audience has to be just as involved as the actors in order to give something back for the actors to respond to. It's a collaborative event, an emotional conversation between creator and viewer.
My goal is to have a conversation with the viewer. Just as an actor breaks the fourth wall on a stage and talks directly to the audience, I use text and a visual language to break the picture plane to speak directly to the viewer. Just as I’m speaking to you right now. And you can hear me, can’t you, through these written words? As you read these words you hear a sound, a voice, made by my words in your head. Hello!
Also, from the theater, I've learned that art has an ephemeral quality. The only place where it is truly saved or preserved is in the heart and in the mind of the viewer.
I value are the materials I use--photographic images, collage, cameras, paint, charcoal, acetate, whatever it is I have on hand--and what they can do. I value spontaneity during the creative process for what it allows the materials to reveal, and I value ambiguity for raising questions in the viewer’s mind.
Therefore, I am inspired and influenced by street art. Decay. Torn wallpaper in an abandoned house. Tarnished mirrors. The remnants of tattered posters left glued on a wall. Graffiti art on freight cars. Paint rags. The seemingly haphazard/purposeful/spontaneous nature of paint buildup in an art studio sink...
...memory, remorse, and anger. Death, tombstones, and graveyards...
...science and technology, nature, and politics. And advertising.
My work flows between these multiple disciplines from which I borrow. My practice ranges from the traditional written word and photography, to non-traditional theater/performance where I’ve used traditional theater elements (e.g. lighting, costumes) as well as non-traditional elements (e.g. movement, magical realism), to my current visual work composed of mixed media (original text, image transfer, drawing, paint, wood) and conceptual art.
I am very much informed by the theater. You don’t lean back in a theater seat and say, “Entertain me.” For the actors to do their jobs well, the audience has to be just as involved as the actors in order to give something back for the actors to respond to. It's a collaborative event, an emotional conversation between creator and viewer.
My goal is to have a conversation with the viewer. Just as an actor breaks the fourth wall on a stage and talks directly to the audience, I use text and a visual language to break the picture plane to speak directly to the viewer. Just as I’m speaking to you right now. And you can hear me, can’t you, through these written words? As you read these words you hear a sound, a voice, made by my words in your head. Hello!
Also, from the theater, I've learned that art has an ephemeral quality. The only place where it is truly saved or preserved is in the heart and in the mind of the viewer.
I value are the materials I use--photographic images, collage, cameras, paint, charcoal, acetate, whatever it is I have on hand--and what they can do. I value spontaneity during the creative process for what it allows the materials to reveal, and I value ambiguity for raising questions in the viewer’s mind.
Therefore, I am inspired and influenced by street art. Decay. Torn wallpaper in an abandoned house. Tarnished mirrors. The remnants of tattered posters left glued on a wall. Graffiti art on freight cars. Paint rags. The seemingly haphazard/purposeful/spontaneous nature of paint buildup in an art studio sink...
...memory, remorse, and anger. Death, tombstones, and graveyards...
...science and technology, nature, and politics. And advertising.
