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Meet John Fellows

John is a Colorado based artist whose bold, stylised lino cuts reflect his passion for travel and the outdoors. Born in 1974, he studied graphic design at Drexel University, Philadelphia, and began a career in design between international ski excursions. His love for skiing has led to an impressive list of clients, including ski resorts, skateboarding companies and ski magazines. One of these being New Zealand’s own Charter Magazine, for which he illustrated Tawhirimatea, the Maori God of Weather delivering a blast of winter to the Southern Alps. John lists New Zealand in his top five favourite countries, but also gets brownie points for just sounding like a damn cool guy. He was kind enough to tell us a bit about himself.

I… am a designer/illustrator/artist living in Denver, Colorado. I try to ski when I can and travel as much as possible.

MY ART ISN’T… pretentious. I like to create work that can appeal to different walks of life. From bike messengers to other artists to the average person on the street as well as art collectors. My art isn’t clean. It’s not supposed to be perfect. My work tends to be small. I like to think of it as intimate. I want the audience to have to step a little closer to the work and really have to look at it, not just be able to pass by from 6 feet away. Knowing that space is limited these days, I want to create pieces that people can enjoy and easily find a place to hang them.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE ARE… my hands, a carving knife, linoleum, water based ink and my computer.

COLORADO IS… amazing. Beautiful. Denver/Colorado averages more sunny days than Miami, Florida if you can believe it. That means there is a lot of outdoor time. The skiing and hiking are amazing. Also, people don’t realize the amount of talent that lives and works here. People overlook Colorado because it isn’t on one of the coasts.  There are so many talented artists living here that, in my opinion, deserve more recognition than many of the ones on the coasts. They are extremely hard working and down to earth.

WHEN I WAS YOUNG I… didn’t know shit. I thought I did (like everyone else does when they’re young), but now I know differently.

THE MOST IMPORTANT… thing is to believe in yourself and that everything you are doing is for a reason. Good things will happen. That and be nice to people. Karma can turn around and bite you in the ass when you’re not expecting it.

MY PIPE DREAMS… involve combining my art and travel. If I can figure out a feasible way to travel and have an art show in another country, I would be happy. I don’t need to sell a lot, just enough to cover the plane ticket or hotel and food and I would be stoked. That and ski in Japan and South America. The snow looks amazing.

NATURE & MAN WILL… hopefully learn to live together peacefully.

THE NATURE OF MAN IS… to question everything. Don’t be satisfied with everything people tell you. Find out for yourself.

BOUNDARIES SHOULD… in most cases, be broken. But when it comes to closed avalanche terrain, respect the closure. It’s there for a reason.

IN THE FUTURE… I hope global warming calms down so we get good snow again.

OLEX IS… an Australian manufacturer of electrical cables with more than 65 years of experience servicing the Australian and Asia Pacific energy, construction and industrial markets. Good job Olex, keep up the good work.

INTIMACY… is a special thing.

BIG… in the art world isn’t always good. People seem to get distracted by the size when you enlarge photographs and create large scale paintings. People are always impressed by the sheer size and don’t realise that the piece is actually shit. (Of course this is not always the case. It just seems to happen a lot).

SMALL… can be good. Businesses become ‘too big to fail’ and then the next thing you know we (the public) have to bail them out. Where’s the bailout for the little guy? In regards to art, these days people don’t have a lot of disposable income, so smaller artworks are more affordable.

INSPIRATION ALWAYS… strikes at random times.

DON’T TRUST… Shady people. And that you will actually finish projects on time if you really wait to the last minute. And that Al Italia flights will always go smoothly.

I’M ATTRACTED… to the hands on aesthetic of screen printing and wood and linoleum carving.

SOME PEOPLE… need to be knocked off their high horse. They need to realise there is more to the world than their own political views, religous views, culture, etc. People are different everywhere and they need to accept that. Ethnocentrism is not a good thing. This goes for everyone, not just Americans. I’ve met plenty of people from other countries that think they and their country is ‘holier than thou.’ An asshole’s an asshole, no matter where they are from.

THE BEST ADVICE… I ever got was from Mark Twain; “Don’t let academics get in the way of your education” (or something to that effect). Words to live by! My advice is travel and see the world! That’s probably one of the best kinds of education you can get. Teaches you that there is more out there than your little bubble of a world back home.

TREASURE… your family and friends. You never know where you are going to end up in your life. You might have to call out for help sometime and if you don’t respect and treasure them, there is a chance they won’t be there. That includes your pets. Just because the economy is bad doesn’t give you the right to abandon your pets.

For more on John visit

http://www.johnfellows.net
http://www.iloveartbastard.com
http://www.subaquatica.com/en/index.php/2009/01/30/john-fellows/