BIO | COLLECTIONS 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 NEW 2010 COLLECTIONS 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
New works by John Pugh exhibited at Dezart One Gallery
2688 Cherokee Way – Palm Springs, CA 92264
760.328.1440 www.dezartonegallery.com
Jan 2010
Those impressions first led to a short three year apprenticeship at the Denver Public Schools graphic department. Instructors Bill Norberg and Gary Younger shared their knowledge of sign-painting, silk-screen, large murals and logo design. After departing the school system, John's interest turned to a local custom shop; Fairway Sports, where he would gather the skills of airbrushing, pinstripe, custom paint and fiberglass lay-up under the watchful eye of Jerry Luna. John was eager to learn it all, be a sponge and soak it in.
From John's perspective, he was very fortunate to move from job to job, advancing in skills under recognized professionals. John would paint many of the local drag race cars and oval track racers in a three year period, all the while itching for the national spotlight. By putting together six years of experience, his pallet of colors and artistic knowledge would be put to the test on the national stage of NHRA drag racing.
John's introduction to the speed and excitement of the quarter-mile rockets occurred during an outing with his father, Richard and brother, Jim at the local drag-strip in 1967. "I was hooked" says John. "I was into car mag's; Drag News, Hot Rod magazine, Car Craft etc. scribbling and copying little two inch adds of Big Daddy Roth's T-shirt designs." John's dreams and addiction of painting for the top-guns of NHRA drag racing would culminate during a visit to Tom Stratton's paint shop in Pomona CA. in the fall of 1981.
Tom gave John his first big break, "I'll be forever indebted to him" says John, "We made a great team for three seasons." John learned a tremendous amount from Tom "Superman" Stratton. Tom gave John the confidence to design, paint, letter and airbrush for the legends of the quarter-mile sport. Legends like Shirley Muldowney, Don Prudhomme, Ed McCulloch, Tom McEwen, Candies and Hughes, Connie Kalitta, Roland Leong, Dale Pulde, John Force and Kenny Bernstein. And new champions such as Darrell Gwynn, Larry Dixon, K.C. Spurlock, Mark Oswald, Cruz Pedregon, Mike Dunn, Scott Kalitta, Steve Johnson and Tony Schumacher.
Many of those stars walked through the doors of George Gray's paint shop, with which John shared the facility with for ten years. George taught John the other side of the paint coin; quality, attention to details and the overall final appearance of a custom vehicle. George's clientele were Hollywood celebrities who demanded perfection and his reputation was paramount.
John turned his attention to the drawing board during the slow moments of the off season creating t-shirt designs and lithograph art for his list of drag-racing elite. John's automotive artistry garnered numerous awards and notoriety from clients such as McDonalds, Coors, Mopar, Fruit of the Loom, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Miller, Skoal, Penske Racing, Motorcraft and many others.
John's exposure into lithography was motivated through idol Kenny Youngblood, the sports premier artist. John's style matured over the years while studying Kenny's amazing visions of automotive genius. Kenny was also a huge influence to John with his killer airbrush techniques, lettering and striping skills.
Long years and late hours took a toll on the 38 year old artist. Season after season brought "burnout". Not in the racing sense, but rather reluctantly, John had hit a creative wall.
John would return to Colorado in the fall of 1995 to work at Fineline Graphics for three years. There, he continued to create more t-shirt art, racing lithography and one-of-a-kind custom painted helmets. The call would come again to paint the Nitro cars and by doing so John attempted to merge the custom paint with the vinyl portion of the business. John recalls; "I was old school, no computers, no vinyl wraps. It was all done by hand; it was hard to give up what I had learned over the past twenty years. There's a great sense of artistic expression and achievement to create with your hands, brain and the powers above." John simply couldn't harness that sensation being involved with vinyl.
John's search for that sensation and creative expression led to a period of two years creating aquatic art and tropical visions on pearlescent textured canvas. He combined his knowledge of sparkling colors and candy pigments to create those brilliant illuminating colors seen in underwater sea-life. John created fifty plus pieces with matching frames, loaded the trailer and headed to Florida for a two month tour of eight art shows. So much time, money and effort ended in miserable results. "I had hit rock bottom" recalls Pugh.
It was a humbling experience. The art was fun and creatively gratifying, on the other hand, the business shortfall and the bruised ego was not so fun. Instead of artistic satisfaction it became artistic depression.
The celebration of the new century would bring a flame from the past, junior-high sweetheart Debbie Ward. Twenty-eight years later the two re-united. Later that fall they were married. "It's been wonderful ever since", declares John.
Debbie re-ignited John's artistic hunger. While painting for Elite Golf Graphics, John had experimented with that same paint knowledge from the past by creating abstract images on golf clubs. Combining the old technology with what was fresh and new, John created his first abstract images on canvas and aluminum. Debbie prodded him to drop into a local art gallery; Indigo Gallery' in Ft. Collins Colorado. Proprietor Wendy Foster gave John his first shot at being recognized with the use of this new and exciting technique.
Utilizing honey-thick resins and polymer based clears with translucent toners, reflective flakes, micas, pearls, silver and gold powders, John manipulates layer after layer of spectacular color with heat, brushes, air pressure, squirt bottles and gravity. John soon became infused with this new medium that is rarely used in the world today. He refers to the pieces as "Liquid Abstractions". Incredible collaborations of rich color abound in these creations, similar to the close-up view of a gemstone or a quartz crystal.
John's current economic stability is with Gunslinger Customs in Golden Colorado. For four years he has enjoyed creating new designs and paint schemes as the Art Director for several clients including the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the United States. The Gunslinger team will paint and produce over forty-five hundred motorcycles or thirty-eight thousand parts during 2009. The facility is twenty-one thousand square feet large with seventy employees.
When John comes to the close of the work week, he looks forward to creating more wondrous, moving "Liquid Abstractions".
Victoria Moore | Ginger Cook | Olga Kuczer | John Pugh | Juan "One" Sepulveda | Darcie | Lawrence Noble | Heidi Hornberger | Armik Malekian