About
John Michael Gill
Torrance (Los Angeles) native now residing in Seattle Washington.
John is a part of a wave of Artists who started showing consistently in and around Los Angeles in the early 2000’s.
1998 Marked Johns first important Gallery exhibition at the Julie Rico Gallery. When to his surprise collectors gravitated to paintings and drawings on Canvas, Paper, Wood, and Ceramic. This led to a relationship with Gallery owner Julie Rico that continues to this day.
At this point the art magazine Juxtapoz was fairly new and it was exciting to see such styles be recognized outside of the world of Skateboarding or Music.
Since the beginning John has obsessively drawn faces which are experiments in expression. Simple lines dictate so much about what make John’s faces stand out in their respective crowds.
“I enjoy speaking to people at shows and hearing what they get out of the work I do. For me it’s simple meditation and therapy, one that yields results that last way longer then the meditative act. Art is my spiritual base and focus and in it I can accept chaos.”
Johns work has been featured in magazines, on album covers, the streets he explores, and numerous group shows as well as a dozen or more solo shows.
“The solo shows are a chance to really let someone into my world and it always makes more sense.”
2020 marks Johns return to engaging an audience with visual art after needing to step back and re-evaluate his own intentions. “Art is so crucial and dear to my life that I would rather never show again then with the wrong people. Im not interested in the machine I have seen seduce so many only to leave them with very misguided reasons for why art called them in the first place. I have just been doing commission work, extensive sketchbooks, and graffiti since my son was born in 2011 with a few group shows mixed in. I simply was not mature or selective in what I put out in the world, however I have come to terms with this and I am confident in what I do and my place in the cosmos.”
Gills art is a mixture of what he grew up on, skateboarding, music, sub-cultures, and religion mixed with the world he lives in and the way he percieves it.
“Art is the only loyal friend I have known and through trial and error I have learned to give it it’s proper respect and together we have developed a visual language”
Notable career highlights include Painting live at the CW Network Up Fronts at Madison Square Garden, showing at notable Los Angels galleries Thinkspace, Copro Nason, and Walled City among others. Set direction and design for the play “Bright Day” in Manhattan. John is most proud that his work is in major and minor collections and is always happy when someone finds a connection to his work. “I am swimming in an ocean of talent, talent that far surpasses me yet with luck and grattitude I am honored to have ever had anyone take interest in my work.”