111 Minna Gallery

“In this new body of work I am viewing my own childhood through the lens of psychology and mythology. The images are a result of intense psychological exploration and automatic responses to memories and dreams of childhood. The settings are often bleak and somewhat dystopian representing the vastness of the human psyche. In continuing with the theme of the archetype, I am interested in the synthesis of the child with the archetype of the hero figure in both mythology and psychology.” -JOHN WENTZ

“My process involves taking seemingly disparate images, which are derived from dreams and memories. These images are then synthesized on the picture plane to form a language or narrative. A systematic form of geometry is then used to give the pictures structure and unify the images giving them integrity with the rectangle that holds them.”

“Each individual component is viewed as a piece of vocabulary and when put together develop as language.  Elements of comic books are used as the vocabulary of my youth while the predominantly achromatic figures allude to the psychological or dream state. The image of the crow is repeated as a symbol of a particular time of my youth. As a child, I regrettably hunted birds: shooting and burying them. They represent the cycle and ritual of birth, growth, discovery and death.”