John Patterson: index + reverie

John Patterson, drw_1/ 8, 2023, Gouache & ink on paper, 24 x 18 inches

John Patterson’s drawings contain an index of shapes that attempt to describe emotional equivalents to this world. Using compositional techniques such as torque, collision, and rhythm, these drawings show a dialogue between pattern and randomness, presence, and absence. He imagines the shapes he makes to be in a dynamic rather than a static state. His art historical references are many—including the Classical, the Baroque, and the cartoon—in this work, Patterson envisions a scenario where the past and future collapse into the present.

Artist’s Bio
John Patterson lives in Hoboken, New Jersey. He received a BA from Montclair University, and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. His past exhibitions include Selections Fall ’92, The Drawing Center (1992); New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Arts, Newark Museum of Art (1993); and Drawings by John Patterson: Process, Reveries, & Accumulations, Hunterdon Art Museum (2003). His recent exhibitions include: Personal Geographies, Equity Gallery, (2022); Inspired by George Inness: Life and Landscape, Montclair Art Museum and Studio Montclair’s Leach Gallery (2022); and New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence, New Jersey State Museum (2022).