Blog Archives - John Gerstner

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John deere painters portrait

Why People Work

John Gerstner

This article was published in the John Deere Journal, 1974. Social scientists say we work not just for money but for a whole range of other human needs and satisfactions. Benjamin Franklin was a great lover of work. Pinching time as if it were pennies he labored long hours through most of his 84 years–earning […]

Painting Fiction vs Painting Non-fiction

John Gerstner

Much of art can be considered non-fiction: a reflection of reality, captured with varying degrees of accuracy. The goal seems to be to put on canvas a replica of what the eye can see, though of course it is never exactly that. Even the Mona Lisa, celebrated as one of the most famous realist paintings, […]

camel and female in surreal landscape

The Artist as Mad Dervish

John Gerstner

I start with the flailing of a mad dermish. I smear, splash, scrape, wipe, dribble, draw … all the while blending colors and strokes until something says that’s enough. There’s something there. Let it be. Come back to it later. I do. Invariably I start to see shapes and patterns emerging through the chaos. Looking closely […]