Artist Statement:
My work is concentrated on geometric shapes that are inspired by my personal history. Evolving each geometric work by using my larger pieces leaps in scope and artistic impression. This process represents a decades-long commitment to craftsmanship. Every shape, color and line calls back to a story carried across years of artistic discovery; using bold vibrant colors and geometric shapes to create a testament to the power of simplicity and the emotional connection of vivid hues. The geometric shapes represent order, precision and boundaries.
Biography:
John Charles Koebert was born in 1948 in Washington, DC and lived in the Congress Heights community for nearly seven years, cut short only because his parents decided it was time to move. So, at the age of six and a half, he hopped on his tricycle and ran away from home. Fortunately, mom and dad caught up with him within a few hundred yards and took him to Northern Virginia where he would be raised.
In 1972, John earned a Degree in Fine Art from Bridgewater College and came home to establish an art studio on his parent’s farm in Orlean, Virginia. The studio was a tack house, a small two room building that was used primarily for saddlery; but there was enough room for a worktable, small easel and supply cabinet to get a reasonable start. Here, he would work on his early paintings and drawings until he found a larger studio that would accompany his soon-to-be large size canvases, and where he could hold art classes in drawing and painting.
This would last until the spring of 1981, when because of a family emergency, he had to abandon his art and start a long thirty-five-year career with a prominent hotel company. All his early work was stored away in closets, under beds and any place that could afford to handle the multitude of paintings and drawings.
John retired from corporate life in 2016. Since that time, he has dedicated himself to continuing his art on a full-time basis. He has shown and sold work in the DMV metro area and has been a member of Foundry Gallery in Washington, DC since 2021.
Pictured: “Meeting Lorraine at Take Off” (2015), Acrylic on Canvas, 78″ x 93″ – Photo taken while on display at The Foundry Gallery, Washington, DC