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Artist, Ross Johnston is obsesed with Barbie, and has been ever since his sister got one for Xmas in 1964.  The Madison, Wisconsin native had a G.I.Joe doll himself, and began putting G.I.Joe and Barbie in provocative poses as most young children soon do.  That is, until ROSS' brother received his own G.I.Joe, and Barbie was cast aside for the more natural (to Ross, anyway) coupling of the two muscular military men.  Poor Ken, with his bland, vanilla good looks was strictly second-rate in this 8-year-olds's fantasies.  This piece, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", appropriately named after the artist's favorite movie, showcases Ken and G.I.Joe embracing with Barbie entering the room, was Johnston's idea of what could have resulted if his sister had caught him "abusing" her Barbies.

Most of Johnston's work contains three different aspects: humor, pop culture, and eroticism.  "I rarely start out with a goal of creating a funny or erotic work," he notes.  Rather, I have something I want to communicate and choose to do so via that context."  Johnston's art is rarely about sex, for example, he sometimes uses an erotic or even humorous image to make a larger point.  Johnston adds, "These elements are invariably present as they are all part of my background and personality."

His titles for his works often derive from a favorite song or movie.  "It Ain't No Sin is courtesy of Mae West.  "Sins" was done shortly after the indiscetions of many Catholic priests came to light.  But more important to Johnston was the church hierarchy's cover-up.  "It rendered their condemnation of homosexuality between consenting adults absurdly hypocritical," he explains.  "However," Ross adds, "Since I don't believe in belittling anyone's belief system, commenting on the church's hypocrisy without condemning all Catholics was problematic."  Therefore Ross consulted with his former lover (and priest) for advice about about how to walk thin fine line.  It was he who suggested the imagery from "The Book of Kells" and helped him to confront the intended target and not to offend those with whom he had no quarrel.  "I guess I must have done alright," admits the arist, "Many Catholics, as well as a couple of priests, commented favorably."  Johnston went on to say that one priest liked the piece so well that he would buy it if his meager salary permitted. 

Johnston has always had an affinity for Hollywood gloss.  It is evident in his work, that he is especially enamored of the Technicolor movies produced by 20th Century Fox during the 1940s that usually starred Betty Grable.  Johnston states that while the films may have been dreadful, the world never looked better to him than when presented in bright, almost garish Technicolor, not at all resembling the comparitively drab reality of life.  Johnston has ventured away from color and worked in black and white, but acknowledges his strongest asset is the use of color.

Johnston's process for creating his works of art does not include photographs or computer-generated images.  He uses Prismacolor pencils for his drawings, then cuts them out and mounts them on foam core before arranging them inside box frames to form 3-D tableaux.

Johnston may have inherited his artistic ability from his mother, a visual artist herself.  "Ive always drawn,"  Ross discloses, "But they were mostly just line drawings, cartoons or doodles, and almost always of [naked] women.  Being a gay man, I guess you'd have to consult a psychologist to understand this fully."  In 1995, a friend asked Ross to create and frame a piece of art as a Christmas gift.  He was then persuaded or "bullied" by his then-boyfriend to pursue what was then a raw, undeveloped talent.

Ross Johnston is quick to give cedit to the Tom of Finland Foundation for giving him exposure and the lion's share of his promotional opportunities.  The Tom of Finland Foundation produces two shows a year, one in West Hollywood each October and one in New York in early May.  Johnston urges anyone interested in erotic art, whether for creating or purchasing, to attend these events, as they never fail to be fun, provocative, and inspiring.

In several of Johnston's works his subjects appear to be a combination of female bodybuilders and drag queens.  "Well, isn't bodybuilding a kind of drag?" he asks.  He notes that bodybuilders work hard to develope their physiques in the image of who they percieve themselves to be, just as transexuals or drag queens also work equally hard to make themselves over.  "I have no problem with either," he delares.  Society, on the other hand, embraces one and shuns the other.  My feeling is that we're all part man and part woman--and should embrace both."

Johnsto's work can be puchased in Chicago at the Jon Galt Gallery and from Art@Large (www.artatlarge.com) in New York.

-Darren Cooper

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"I grew up obsessed with pop culture and all things Hollywood," says Madison, Wisconsin-based artist, Ross Johnston (no relation).  He confesses it's a fixation he's yet to recover from, which is evident in his "admittedly skewed' artistic vision, a mind-bending cocktail of Technicolor dreams, cartoon kitsch and glossy erotica.  "The idea for this work came directly from my childhood love of--and obsession with--comic book superheroes.  For many gay kids these handsome, muscular characters were their first crushes.  Unfortunately, all of these superheroes were depicted as red-blooded, heterosexual men.  As a result, when I became an artist, one of my first ideas was to go back and exploit the rather obvious homoerotic subtext.  Batman and Robin?  Please!"  As for the young reader seen here,  "It's actually a rendering of a recent photo of myself.  I'm 45." 

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Another presenter, Ross Johnston, employs a different approach to the capture of human coitus.  "I'm self-taught andtend towards a photo-realistic approach to figurative drawing which I then encapsulate into foam core tableaux.  I mix a lot of humor and popculture references into my work, which I feel lends a darker, kind of subversive quality to the subject matter.  Aesthetically, my goal is to evoke the feeling of 1940's and 50's Technicolor with it's garish hues that seem to bring a wished reality over the banality of the actual thing.  Mixing that effort with the provocative subject matter really captures my contribution to the community."
Johnston speaks for many artists when he relates how he came into contact with the foundation.  "Actually, I had them on a [very] short list of groups I was interested in contacting, when Sharp (one of the foundation's chairs) contacted me after seeing my work online.  Though I was aware of the foundation's existence--and very familiar with Tom of Finland's artwork after years of self-abuse--living in Wisconsin I had not attended a fair.  I'm looking forward to meeting people at the fair, my buyers seem to be a fairly diverse cross section of humanity and we get every walk of life at the fair and that suits me fine."
Philosophically, Johnston sees erotic art , and his in particular, as stimulation for the imagination, not merely for the carnalities of physical intercourse.  "Though much of my work is visually erotic, often this is used to convey a theme that may only have a minor connection with sexuality.  For instance, the theme may be alienation, but to use eroticism (or humor or something else) to convey this can, in my opinion, make a potentially depressing suject matter more palatable.  I tend to have a rather broad view of art in general because it's all in the eye of the beholder; however, in my opinion, what is not shown can be infinitely more erotic than explicit sexuality.  People can generally fill in the blanks and most people's minds are as dirty as anything I could draw.  I, therefore tend to be more circumspect and less explicitly erotic."

The following are original works used as book covers or works created specifically for this purpose.  The covers appear first, followed by the original artwork.  Some of these works were created for this purpose but not used, due to the fact that I was never compensated financially for any use of my work by the publisher.  I, therefore witheld the other works pending payment for services rendered (yeah, THATS gonna happen!).  All works pictured here are framed (or soon will be) and are available for purchase (except "The Bonds of Death" which is sold).  Please inquire as to prices.

Copyright . ROSS jOHNSTON. All rights reserved.