Rebel, Rebel

John ‘josimo’ Paterson, essentially a self-taught artist, born in Scotland, 1961.

Making art has always been a way of communicating for me.

As a child my drawings would create a reaction, an excitement, a fascination.

My ability to draw and paint would attract people to me, establish the friendliness and familiarity of a real connection without the need on my part to talk and explain myself with too many words.

My time is divided between a working life at sea to the quiet confines of my home studio in North Ayrshire, on the outskirts of Glasgow.

My style can adapt to my state of mind, during my time onboard the ship, away from the everyday happenings of the real world, my world creatively opens up ideas for potential works where I will subsequently explore by conjuring initial line drawings in preparation for my homecoming and back into the studio.

As a teenager growing up in the seventies I was heavily influenced through David Bowie, more than just his music, Bowie's gift for telling stories through his songs and inventing the characters and universe driving it, the act of portraying a song rather than just singing it filled my head with images, it was all so cinematic.

After his unexpected death my art returned to those days, reliving those characters in the songs and bringing them back into my scope of works.

My featured works focus on my 2017 collection.