Johnny Popkess

From isolated, exotic lands to the centre of a city filled with art and prestigious galleries within walking distance. Johnny Popkess uses his life experiences and inspiration to portray the human form the way it should be seen, in its truest beauty.

Although he was born in London, Johnny Popkess didn’t stay there long. From early in his life he was on the move and moved around the African continent living in various places off the beaten track. 

Growing up with this lifestyle had many benefits for the developing Johnny Popkess and he formed an attachment and deep appreciation for beauty in its truest form, its natural state of being; the beauty of a thing as it really is and not as it may be made to appear, free of illusion, and true.

The exotic, remote life on the move that Johnny Popkess grew up in instilled in him an impulsive longing to travel far and wide, immersing himself in a world of blemished beauty, searching out that true beauty wherever it may be hidden.

This traveling and searching culminated with Johnny Popkess moving to the heart of Paris and having the Sorbonne, the Louvre, and the Musee d’Orsay on his doorstep and these surroundings offered an irresistible devotion and love of art.

His work is both inspired and influenced by the work of the French painter Gustave Caillebotte; an artist credited as being the first to celebrate the anonymity of his subject whilst blending the styles of impressionism and realism.

At his core, Popkess is a figurative artist with a passion for the human form. His portrayals of the body are intentional and direct, showcasing the human form as it should be seen; daring, unafraid and proud, not covered up and hidden by cliché or unoriginality.

The work of Johnny Popkess can be defined as being classically contemporary; he paints exclusively using the finest hand blended pigments mixed with oils and applied to stretched linen canvas.

Johnny Popkess had his debut as a professional artist in 2017 with his first solo exhibitions. Since then he has exhibited his art around the world with recent exhibitions held in Antwerp, Los Angeles and Boston and upcoming exhibitions in London, Miami and Florence.

His work has also appealed to collectors and fine art galleries around the world, you can find his art hung throughout the US, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and even the Middle East, with a notable recent commission on behalf of the Emirati royal family.