"My paintings reflect what I have personally experienced in a specific time and place in the past. Most often, nature is my muse, and I encode my personal wilderness experiences onto the canvas with paint. A language of mark making, paint handling, surface treatment and overall process form my artistic voice. These paintings are about so much more than the landscape. They are about memory. They intend to capture the emotional content of events which have previously unfolded around me. There is the experience that I actually had, and then there is the experience I remember. My paintings lean on the latter. Some are reflective of stillness and solitude, while others contain thoughts of moving water, weather and wildlife. The age of the Earth and the passage of time are embodied elements. I am in a constant search for the way to portray what I witness as the sublime." John Swincinski (b.1974), American Painter, was raised in a rural coal mining community in Western Pennsylvania, where he received private art instruction on a wide array of traditional drawing and painting techniques. He earned a vocational certificate in commercial art and graphic design, and a BS in Communication from Norwich University. He then served 22-years as an officer in the US Marine Corps. Nearing the end of his military career John returned to his art, initially as way to cope with the upcoming life changes. He began showing his work again in 2016 and since then he has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions. John’s primary artistic focus is the creation of abstract oil paintings based on experiences he has while exploring nature and the wilderness all across North America. He considers his time in nature a critical part to his existence. His paintings are reflective of specific memories tied to these experiences, but his artistic style is also reflective of a childhood of living in a landscape of industrial decay combined with a military career, which included 17 years of being at war. Both of which influence how he sees the world and the aesthetic he imparts to his work. When he is not out exploring the wilderness, John can be found working out of his studio in New Orleans, Louisiana. John completed his MFA in Studio Painting from Louisiana State University in 2021.