John Dow was born in Adelaide and has enjoyed drawing and painting since childhood, which has developed into a lifelong interest as a participant and observer. He has studied art at the Adelaide Central School of Art under the tutelage of Sophie Dunlop; at BAPEA Art School with principal lecturer Peter Bok, and currently attends the Josef Felber Art School.
His art practice focuses primarily on still life painting in oil. Working with Joe has challenged John to develop his practice, focussing on the ‘biology’ of the objects he paints and a gestural approach to painting. John’s work reproduces familiar everyday objects – an empty preserving jar; fellow artist Pheobe’s cup resting on a table in the studio; left over chocolate cake from afternoon tea.
Sometimes interrupting the image and sometimes becoming part of the composition, the plywood support is revealed where masking tape has been applied and removed at stages during the painting process.