About
Sunday, March 15th, 2009
I’m an illustrator. I draw. I design. I create. I challenge myself with ideas. I pray.
I am an artist.
I’m part city slicker, Cheesehead, and a bit sheltered, all at the same time. Seems in everyway, my simple upbringing worked to my artistic benefit. My suburban public education was a majestic blessing in that the schools could afford to feed its hungry artists - and well. And since kindergarten, I’ve unabashedly devoured construction paper on projects and drawings every chance I got, and the teachers loved it! They’d offer space- and I drew on it! I think it was a fair trade because I truly cherished every sheet and they loved the idea that there jobs were actually “making a difference”. They were. Yeah… I recall them emerging from kid-restricted corridors with extra large sheets of pure white, cardboard paper and I’d half-way spoil on myself thinking about the dramatic Spider-Man pose I would etch out– providing, the endless supply of government funded, crayons and markers!
It was something about blank paper that was magic to me. On it, I could create whatever I wanted. A fascinating idea, I thought. Overtime, there was hardly a book in our house that I had not torn away “untarnished” introductory and closing pages to concoct my newest ideas. (I didn’t become interested in actually reading books ‘til high school.) Funny, I wasn’t even aware of actual art supply stores and the now ever-present white printer paper had not yet even been invented - so books became my “crack”. (Today I cringe at the idea of my own daughter doing the same thing, so I buy her plenty of paper -she, like my wife, has the ‘project” gene.)
My older brothers were artistic masters, as far as I was concerned, and so I naturally followed suit and mimicked there every move, drawing everything from monster-fast super cars to alien-like, man-eating dinosaurs. Together with three close brothers (the ‘younger generation” we like to say) we encouraged our fanciful imaginations, all helping to make arts and crafts our own personal sunshine. Exciting were the rainy days that kept us in our rooms “scheming ” or worlds away in our large basement where on our kid-made roller rink, we skated to Sugar Hill’s “Rapper’s Delight” - and any music that ”bumped” out the speakers of our school donated record player- yeah the kind with the single, front speaker! Wall-to-wall blanket cities were magically erected and that serious hunt for a “virgin” book was always inevitable. Even as an adult I find myself smiling when I wake to a dark and cloudy Saturday morning, knowing that a day inside will find great use.
My artwork stems from long, bubbling ideas that eventually work their way to the surface. I’m inspired by art that expects me to “participate” in decoding its origins, as well as its meaning, so I offer the same to those that view my work. Join me. I start with pencil sketches and move forward in whatever medium the work “screams”. But it’s usually pencils. I love them because I can control the fine detail. I choose my subjects (divinely?) but would love to offer a series one day. So stayed tuned, if you will.
The message will always be about love.
I take advantage of and enjoy the artistic freedoms afforded the term “artist” and express myself accordingly, and in more ways than in pencil. Compelled to do what many artists do - I dabble - a lil’ bit of this and a lil’ bit of that - I’m still figuring out which “this” I need to master, as I adore mediums ranging from motion picture digital effects to modeling electric train landscapes.
Well. Years back and under the influence of some soul searching, I was inspired with a rediscovery of Malcolm X’s autobiography and recorded speeches. Enthused by his individualism, I decided to give myself a new last name; but more so, to distinguish myself from the millions of “David Johnson’s” that shared the title. For some reason I wanted to create a single me – or am still hoping to do so. But what’s in a name, right?
I share a deep love for music, most times I’m whistling old melodies I’d written or rehashing lyrics rather than sketching out my “magnum opus”, but I make it work. Or oftentimes I find myself daydreaming I’m some action star in a screenplay I have been slowly gathering for several years. However, I remain focused enough to pull together works in spurts of pure energy and literally dance from storyboard to keyboard, to drawing table and back to screenplay all in the same thought. Lord help me.
I also love to read. Biographies and history books have always had me… When I read James Baldwin’s biography I was amazed at all the works he had began but never completed. I wondered at all the crazy stories he had yet to tell and was saddened at the realization that they would never be told -as he’d present them. I grasped then that artists are full of ideas, many of them never realized – understanding too, that life isn’t long or even fair enough to finish the so many thoughts of our ingenuous individual mind. I concluded, one should offer what they will, while they can.
So, I’m hoping to inspire you with my every contribution.
But like many of us, I just strive to “make a difference” even if it’s just helping to carry home groceries for the elderly Haitian lady that lives on my block. Every little bit helps. And I think God would really like that.
~
David lives with his wife, Santa, and their two children, Yuilah and Yohanni, in Evanston, IL. He was born in Kenosha, WI, USA, the 11th child to Luddie and Diane Johnson, both of Evanston, IL. Together, with eighteen brothers and sisters, (12 boys, 6 girls- no twins) he was raised in both Kenosha and Chicago’s northern suburb of Evanston. Currently, he is not so aggressively working on completing his bachelor degree at Columbia College, Chicago, IL, but he is bouncing “forth and back” from film, animation and fine art majors and will one day pull that rabbit out the hat!