John Harper

My training in biology and medicine has been a significant force behind my approach to art over the last several years.  In addition to hospital and office medical practice, a substantial portion of my career was spent in a corporate healthcare environment.  Using these various reference points provides me with the opportunity to create visual images that are unique and compelling.  I use biologic and anatomic shapes as well as creative non-representational images to produce works that include both the familiar and the unfamiliar.  My Mysterious Anatomy series has its basis in human anatomy and combines both real and imagined anatomic shapes using organic and geometric forms and color.  My Corporate Speak series uses a different sensibility to create visual reflections on words and phrases that are frequently found in corporate life.  

Although my work is non-representational, objective images sometimes appear giving rise to unexpected and interesting juxtapositions.  My background in the sciences as well as my varied taste in music and literature have enabled me to create a broad range of visual images that are imaginative and stimulating.  I continue to reconcile my desire for order and structure (given my years in medicine) with an equal desire for spontaneity and abstraction.  Not knowing which ideas will push forward, which will recede, and which can be translated into an interesting picture plane, keeps my work challenging and fresh.

I was born and raised in South Texas and earned a BA from the University of Texas at Austin before moving to New Haven for graduate and medical school.  I came by art during those early post-graduate years, initially drawing on my own, then attending private lessons, in-person classes, and, more recently, online courses.  In medicine, I enjoyed a multiyear career, first as a primary care Pediatrician and Geneticist and then as a Medical Director in the healthcare industry.  However, since leaving full-time medicine in 2019, I have devoted my focus and passion to the creation of art and the production of visual images that are inventive, complex, and powerful.  My work has been recognized by several juried competitions in Connecticut, including the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and the Greenwich Art Society.