About Me

John Gerstner has career experience as a writer, photo-journalist, magazine editor, multi-media artist, video producer, Internet/intranet strategist, and book author/creative director.  He authored and edited Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey, a coffee-table art business book named Best Coffee Table Book of 2001. Amidst his corporate career, John has never wavered in his passion for art. His art has been published and exhibited in U.S. shows and galleries and is in private collections worldwide. His latest works combine digital photography and painting.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I would be happy to have my artworks seen as a collision at the intersection of photography, painting and sculpture. It is at this interdisciplinary intersection that “reality” and “fiction” blurs, and new thoughts, emotions and conclusions can be drawn.

My process is to be playful and intuitive. As a career photojournalist, many of my paintings stem from past photographs digitally altered, painted on and sometimes rephotographed.  I also often use texture to add a sculptural quality to the canvas. Mixing media allows me to suggest and subvert reality and raise questions about life, beauty, and preciousness.

I strive for paintings that are raw, energetic, and disruptive. Because I prioritize intellectual engagement over traditional esthetic concerns, I believe I am working in the realm of avant-garde and abstract surrealism.

My art is about dreams, illusions, possibilities, and what-ifs. My greatest reward comes when I create a work that shows me something … something that can’t be expressed in words.

EDUCATION

• Video Art & Multimedia, MA, University of Iowa, 1989 
• Journalism & Mass Communication, MA, University of Iowa, 1984
• Journalism, Kansas State University, BS, 1968.

EXHIBITS

AWARDS