1. Welcome John to The Influx Gallery family. Tell us a little bit about yourself and where you are from?

I was born and raised in a small town located just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Coming from a such a history rich region of the US, I spent my early years through High School dreaming of becoming 1 of two things: A US Historian or a politician. That was until I found I had a knack for drawing and all bets were off!

2. Were your family supportive of you deciding to become an artist?

That’s a loaded question for so many artists, the answer is both yes and no. My mother was very supportive of me becoming an artist, her grandfather and Grandmother immigrated from Scotland and London in the early 1900’s where he was a well known and sought after industrial designer and she was an amazing needlepoint artist. My dad on the other hand, came from a very long time of very practically thinking Swedes, who were all focused on woodwork, and became machinists at companies like General Electric, where 3 generations worked on the assembly lines building aircraft engines, my dad became a US Marine when he was 17 years old, worked 3 jobs when I was young. He would encourage me to “Paint Real Things, people don’t want to see things that they don’t understand”. As he got older, maybe it was his own little renaissance or I just wore him down, but eventually he started to understand the beauty behind abstraction and more modern types of art. Sorry for the long answer!

3. Was there anything specific that you can remember that made you want to become an artist?

I started taking art lessons when I was about 7, working various jobs, shovelling snow, mowing lawns to pay for the tuition which I think was only $25.00 a month, the guy who ran the studio was an illustrator who worked at both Marvel and DC Comics, and I was enthralled with comic books as a kid, so he really lit that world up for me. I actually entered college with the intent to become an illustrator and move to NYC and work for a comic book company! LOL, that would have been a very different road to travel!