‘Switch’ of John Bankston (2011) was recently acquired by the Orange County Museum of Art.
The artist:
“When I begin a painting, my first concern is how to integrate painting and drawing. While my work primarily revolves around the practice of painting—the technical aspects of moving paint around to create an image—in that physical act I allow narrative to enter. The painting is a narrative of its own making. The setting for the drawings is a fantasy land: a place where the inhabitants are free to become characters that represent their most secret desires. At the same time, the characters are rooted in my dayto- day experience of life in San Francisco (perhaps a kind of fantasy land itself). The idea of “fantasy” is often thought of as the province of idle escapists. But I like to think of it as a way of re-imagining our world. Fantasy is a means of stepping outside one’s known territory; a means of breaking boundaries.
Flowers, 2013.
My work engages the visual language of coloring books. Formally, this idiom allows for the integration of painting and drawing as well as figuration and abstraction. Line is used to define the boundaries of form. Color may describe the images, but it does not always respect the boundaries established by the line, as it can ooze and seep over the edges. I want the tension of “staying within the lines” to be seen literally and metaphorically.”
Aria, 2010.
About:
Bankston builds a fantasy world out of characters and settings that emerge from his imagination. In the past, he has drawn on fairy tales, animal fables, adventure voyages, and science fiction when inventing the realms for his magical story lines. He allows an initial setting and an imaginary protagonist to interact, mutually informing the suggestive possibilities that define the direction of a fanciful narrative. At times the characters evoke the world of their actions, but other times Bankston relies on the scenario to prompt his plots. Bankston’s drawings operate as a space of inventive play where his unconscious can find visual expression. In this way, they function more directly as creative spurs than the preliminary drawings that most artists use merely to work out details of form, composition, and style for more finished works, often large-scale paintings.
Howdy Pardner, 2003
Mid Day Idyll, 2009.
Courtesy: Rena Bransten Gallery