Tribes, 2025

Gary John  

Gary John has been a street artist since 1985. Originally from Seattle, Washington, he moved to Venice Beach, Los Angeles in 2003 and began selling on the Venice boardwalk. After almost 10 years on the boardwalk and experiencing “a bout with homelessness," he was discovered and his artistic career took off with great success. He references this success in every artwork he makes. Along the left side of the artwork he paints a series of circles joined together by an arrow pointing up. Each circle represents a stepping stone on the path of success that keeps growing to greater heights. On the right side he depicts a line of houses, expressing the joy he finds in the stability of a home.

His street artworks have a whimsical yet exciting and bold quality, inspired by classic cartoon and comic book characters rendered with acrylic paint in a bold graffiti style, on newspaper, board or other media. His choice of newspapers reflects the diversity of his Los Angeles surroundings, including Korean language newspapers, which have become equally collected as his artworks on English language newspapers.

John cites Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat as his artistic inspiration. Other influences are comic books and American pop culture. His original artworks add a new face to the continuous popularity of pop art.

John says about his art: "I grew up in a dysfunctional home. I always got lost in my art as an escape. Art is my passion. There is not enough time in the day to do all the painting I want to do. I'm consumed with it."

Los Angeles street artist Gary John exploded onto the international art scene first during Art Basel Miami in 2013. John's playfully bold work quickly gained attention and he was named one of 20 standout artists at the 2014 NY Affordable Art Fair. His works have been exhibited at Artspace Warehouse since 2013. His contemporary artworks continue to be exhibited at major international art fairs in the United States, Asia and Europe, including Los Angeles, New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. Celebrities and major art collectors worldwide have acquired his timeless artworks, which have seen a significant increase in value.