Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Marc Johns: Artist, Comedian, Hero, etc.


I just stumbled across the “post-it” note artwork of the ingenious Marc Johns. I wanted to give a nice intro for Marc but I feel his words would do the job better than I ever could. Take it away Marc!

“Marc Johns creates whimsical drawings filled with dry wit and humour. Whether it’s a man with branches growing out of his head that need pruning, or a pipe that’s trying to quit smoking, his characters are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes with just a few strokes of the pen. He's been drawing since he was tiny. He's not tiny anymore, but he's not exactly big either. Marc is not sure why he's talking about himself in the third person...

I generally aim to say as much as possible with as few elements as possible. My work often leans toward humour. Finding the humour in things often leads to finding the truth.

I like to create absurd situations, by combining things together that don’t belong, or imagine what inanimate objects would say if they could speak. For instance, the pen I am using to write this draft would probably say: "I'm tired. Can we stop for a bit?" Or perhaps it would say: "I can't believe you're making me write this. This is rubbish. Signing cheques would be more inspiring than this." These are the things I think about. I think about a lot of things. I think about thinking. Don't try it though, it's not worth it.

I use watercolours in ways you shouldn't. I make my own sketchbooks. If I smoked, I'd roll my own. I'd rather draw than rent a movie. Don't try to start a conversation with me about recent films. I haven't seen any. I play the guitar. If I was a hobo, I'd learn to play the ukulele, because you could fit one in your duffle bag. My artwork and the materials I use are quite compact. You could fit my studio in a large suitcase. I hope you like my drawings, or at least some of them.”

His humour makes me laugh out loud…literally (hence me spelling it out rather than writing lol). Here are a few pieces of his post-it note artwork that also made me giggle.


You can visit his website and even purchase some of Marc’s artwork (great last minute holiday gift idea!), including his watercolour artwork, here!



(found via flickr)

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