John Babbitt is a self taught painter, a semi-abstract contemporary artist born and raised in AZ. Influenced by neo expressionism, a later modernist movement from the late 1970's. John brings a lot of his inspiration from his family roots in Mexico and time he spent as a child growing up with such a vibrant culture.
His work is typically made of acrylic and charcoal and is known for being comically bold as he uses his artwork as a personal journal, painting what he thinks and sees everyday, featuring large-scale works with vivid colors and visceral subjects blending the worlds of figurative and abstract mediums. His dynamic compositions blend gestural brushstrokes that capture the dynamism and fragility of the human experience.
Over the last 20 years Johns career has enjoyed a wide following with individual collectors and museums across the United States.His layered paint and charcoal invites and encourages the viewer to explore details and ultimately craft their own interpretations of his work and what it may mean to the individual. Something chaotic, sometimes quiet and somber.
"I sometime feel the painting creates itself and I'm just an extension of the paint brush, that every painting i'm finding out what is to come. I know what I want to paint but it always becomes more of what the canvas expects and I find a way to slip my themes into it, piecing subjects together. I feel like it's a way to find common ground and compromise with one's self. I grew up in a family of 8 kids and we had to learn fast how to make do. Art has always been an extension of the kid I was, and the kid struggling to grow up and ones place".