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2025 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
John Sousa
Mr.Springboro Ohio 45066 United States Cell Phone: (937) 369-4367 Website: johnsousa.com
Bio
John lives and has a studio in Springboro, Ohio. He was a National Scholastic Art Scholar and graduated with a BFA from Bradley University in 1982. John was one of the featured artists in issues #167 and #149, Midwest edition, of New American Paintings. John has exhibited his work in a dozen states across the country; most recently at: The Painting Center in New York, Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH, Art Access Gallery, Columbus, OH, Grace Albrecht Art Gallery Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH, Riffe Gallery in Columbus, OH, UC Blue Ash College Gallery in Blue Ash, OH, the Museum of New Art in Armada, MI, and the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. He has received two Montgomery County Art Fellowships and was awarded an AIA Grant by Summerfair in 2014.
John is a mixed-media artist whose long-term focus has been language, photography, and how we perceive and infer meaning. He believes in using style as well as the formal elements of art (line, shape, color, etc.) to explore his long-term interests more thoroughly. John has always been concerned with the formal qualities of art and is constantly pushing the bounds of the materials he uses.
Solo Exhibitions:
2024 “John Sousa – Chaos Fields” Art Lab Gallery, Dayton, OH
2018 “Reconstructions” Grace Albrecht Art Gallery, Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH
Two & Three Person Exhibitions:
2024 “Contemplating Heaven and Earth – Shawna Hatton & John Sousa” Springboro Performing Arts Center, Springboro, OH
2022 “Darren Haper & John Sousa – Appropriate Everything” Wilmington College – Boyd Cultural Arts Center, Wilmington, OH
2021 “Appropriate Everything – John Sousa & Darren Haper” Art Access Gallery Bexley, OH
2019 “The Dayton Connection – New Work by Mike Elsass, Darren Haper & John Sousa” Art Access Gallery Bexley, OH
2016 “Navigation: Personal and Geographical Landscape” Tracy Longley-Cook, Denise Eagleson Greenberg, John Sousa at Dayton Visual Arts Center, Dayton, OH,
2012 “Abstractions” Oxford Community Arts Center, Oxford, OH
Group Exhibitions:
2023 “Volume UP: Artists Responding to Music and Sound” The Painting Center, New York, NY, Curator: Monica King
2023 Disrupting the Norm” Springboro Performing Arts Center, Springboro, OH, Curator: Hyacinth Paul, Ph.D.
2023 “Visual Poetry Today” DIAD Gallery, Dayton, OH, Curator: Chris Reynolds
2020 “Stillness and Receptivity” Indian Hill Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, Curator: Casey Dressell
2017 “Summerfair Select Exhibition – AIA Winners” Weston Gallery, Cincinnati OH
2016 “Modes of Photography Vision” UC Blue Ash College, Blue Ash, OH
2016 “Contemporary Figuration” Ohio Art Council’s Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH
2015 “The Selfie Show” Museum of New Art, Armada, MI
2014 “10th Annual Small Works Show” 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 “Post-Photography: Beyond the Print” Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
Selected Awards & Prizes:
2023 Selected to appear in New American Paintings, No. 167, Midwest Issue
2021 Selected to appear in New American Paintings, No. 149, Midwest Issue
2014 “Summerfair Foundation” AIA Grant Award Recipient
1997 “Montgomery Co. Individual Fellowship” Photography, Master Category
1994 “Montgomery Co. Individual Fellowship” Photography, Associate Category
1978-1982 “National Scholastic Scholar, Art” 4-year, full tuition scholarship to Bradley University
Artist Statement
Methods: These works, from my Chaos Fields series, are mixed-media paintings which incorporate collage and new dimensional printing technologies. I use fragments of images-text, symbols, and patterns-which are silk-screen printed (using dimensional inks) and then collaged onto the work. The works are then painted (using primarily white to enhance the texture), producing a uniquely textured surface. Over this surface are printed digital images using new printing technologies, such as UV-cured printing and hydrographic printing. These allow me to print over the textured surfaces. I then go back in with more painting, collage, and printing, creating a subtle layering. I see the various printing technologies as new ways to apply paint.
Philosophy: I think of these as sumptuous visual poems. The works are intimate, and they encourage looking. The painterly and textural elements entice the viewer to not only see, but to want to feel the artwork. They are collage-based mashups of diverse and competing styles. They incorporate elements of Formalism, Pop, Collage, Visual Poetry, Dada, and more.
Our perception is very fragmented. Our minds stitch the fragments together into a smoother view. Understanding this, I want to create mixed-media paintings that are not literal but suggestive. My aim is to create work that is both visually stimulating and thought-provoking. The more time one spends looking, the more they will see, and the more they will see how things are related. These works are not representations of the world, they are more representations of our minds wandering.