John Sharp is a photorealist artist and art educator who resides with his family in Tennessee. His first taste of studio life was at the age of 12 when his mom signed him up for weekend art classes at the Flint Institute of Art. Staying with his dad on summer breaks as a teen, he would allow his boy take over the sunroom as a studio. Staying up through the wee hours until he could no longer manage to focus his eyes on the miniscule details of his colored pencil drawings, Sharp recalls often waking up on a futon with a modest 2 hours of sleep: A true rite of passage for every artist! He would later pursue a degree in studio painting and drawing from Central Michigan University. It was at this time he fell in love with painting and was introduced to the masters of the photorealism movement like John Baeder, Richard Estes, and Robert Cottingham: all who would become massive influences to his future work. After years as a freelance artist and a studio coordinator for a non-profit art studio for adults with and without developmental disabilities, he would go on to receive a Master of Art in Teaching Visual Art from Columbia College Chicago. Sharp’s work has been exhibited in galleries such as the Uptown Arts Center in Chicago, Illinois, the Mondak Heritage Center and Museum in Sydney, Montana, Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, New York, and the Siena Art Institute in Siena, Italy. His art works are in both national and international private collections. John Sharp was a featured artist in Hyperrealism Magazine #11 in 2020 and Acrylic Works Volume 9 in 2022. His work has also been featured in multiple featured collections by Rebecca Wilson, chief curator at Saatchi Art.