Exhibition
John Bankston: Lovers
–Press Release
Bay Area artist John Bankston's exhibition entitled Lovers will include drawings and paintings that form short narratives about relationships. Each drawing is an episode that advances the story in comic book-like panels or coloring book pages. The visual vocabulary of the coloring book format allows Bankston to combine figuration and abstraction - colors extend beyond the outlines of figures and into the backgrounds representing explosions of passion. The action of individual narratives that begins in the drawings culminates in a large painting showing the conclusion in more intense colors. By making the drawings relate to each other and the paintings, Bankston comments on the connection and importance of disparate parts to the whole in any relationship. The stories also touch on issues of dominance and submission, racism, and power structures enacted by the characters.
John Bankston received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL. He is currently featured in the exhibitionFreestyle, which originated at the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY and is currently at the Santa Monica Museum of Art until November 18, 2001. Bankston also received the 2001 Art Council Grant.
Bay Area artist John Bankston's exhibition entitled Lovers will include drawings and paintings that form short narratives about relationships. Each drawing is an episode that advances the story in comic book-like panels or coloring book pages. The visual vocabulary of the coloring book format allows Bankston to combine figuration and abstraction - colors extend beyond the outlines of figures and into the backgrounds representing explosions of passion. The action of individual narratives that begins in the drawings culminates in a large painting showing the conclusion in more intense colors. By making the drawings relate to each other and the paintings, Bankston comments on the connection and importance of disparate parts to the whole in any relationship. The stories also touch on issues of dominance and submission, racism, and power structures enacted by the characters.
John Bankston received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL. He is currently featured in the exhibitionFreestyle, which originated at the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY and is currently at the Santa Monica Museum of Art until November 18, 2001. Bankston also received the 2001 Art Council Grant.
Bay Area artist John Bankston's exhibition entitled Lovers will include drawings and paintings that form short narratives about relationships. Each drawing is an episode that advances the story in comic book-like panels or coloring book pages. The visual vocabulary of the coloring book format allows Bankston to combine figuration and abstraction - colors extend beyond the outlines of figures and into the backgrounds representing explosions of passion. The action of individual narratives that begins in the drawings culminates in a large painting showing the conclusion in more intense colors. By making the drawings relate to each other and the paintings, Bankston comments on the connection and importance of disparate parts to the whole in any relationship. The stories also touch on issues of dominance and submission, racism, and power structures enacted by the characters.
John Bankston received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL. He is currently featured in the exhibitionFreestyle, which originated at the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY and is currently at the Santa Monica Museum of Art until November 18, 2001. Bankston also received the 2001 Art Council Grant.