BIOGRAPHY: JOHN DUCKWORTH

John Duckworth's artwork is characterized by an intense love of movement, color theory and a fascination with the "captured moment." As a professional photographer and graphic designer, he incorporates "commercial" skills into his artwork, "The camera and the computer are simply modern tools of the trade," says Duckworth. "I use them just as early painters used the camera obscura and camera lucida - as tools for initial sketches."

He uses the camera and computer as sketchpads and then carefully deconstructs the image to include only the most basic forms before painting. The resulting work straddles Realism, Abstraction and Impressionism - and reflects an appreciation of the natural beauty of landscape, cityscapes and human interaction within these environments.

This diversity of interests and styles isn't surprising, considering the long list of artists who acted as both mentors and teachers. John worked along side David Baze in San Diego for several years as a teenager; he then studied with Wayne Thiebaud at U.C. Davis, with ceramic artist Les Lawrence at Grossmont College and later earned his BA in Studio Art studying under Cliff Peacock, Michael Tyzack and Michelle Van Parys at the College of Charleston.

John Duckworth is currently working as an artist in two industries - as part owner and art director of a communications agency in Charleston and as a painter working with both acrylics and oils. Over the past five years, his paintings have been sold to collectors in New York, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Charleston, and Canada.

John says of his work, “I love paint in all its forms, and am continually amazed by its versatility. I am interested in color relationships, abstraction, realism, deconstruction, the photographic image, design, and communication.

My art making is a continual process of reinvention, which parallels my own personal development. I begin with carefully planned ideas and concepts, but only when I no longer know what I am doing do good things happen. Painting is a mystery. At its best it is an open-ended conversation.”