Dirke Gordon Johnson, Born Quantico, Virginia 1952. He started as an artist with natural drawing and painting skills by the age of 5 his art had already been viewed at the Laguna Beach Art Show and in grade school where he was commissioned to paint a portrait of the school principle and the front of the school he attended at age 10. Although military school did not offer any art in the curriculum, he continued to practice his drawing and painting skills all through high school. Later he studied art, advertising design and architectural design in several colleges including the University of Northern Colorado where he attended school in Florence, Italy, studying painting, graphic design, printmaking, photography and old masters techniques.

During the 70's and 80's he worked in the advertising industry as a graphic designer doing both layout and illustration, with several small companies while continuing to pursue his love for art as well as teaching martial arts, where he developed several schools specializing in teaching children both martial arts as well as drawing and painting.

By the 1990's he started to emerge as a serious painter putting on shows in the Denver and Aspen area, and getting a first place in the Glenwood Springs art show two years in a row as well as honorable mention in both the Glenwood Springs and the Cherry Creek art shows. His continuing developments include gaining a degree in Multi-media Graphic design and developing a series of prints using scanned in portions of original art and photographs and then digitally combined and enhanced using computer technology. The current series such as: "The Imaginary Vacation" and "New Vision Chronicles" include some drawings, paintings and photographs that were originally done in the 70's and 80's along with current work from the 90's into the present.

His Latest painting and photographic series entitled "Adventures in Creative Parking" is merely a statement on urban organization and modern living, taking the initial design ideas from the most common living areas that we take for granted like parking areas and combining it with an ancient cultural flavor in color, texture and childlike simplicity of design.

Artists Statement

On the physical level I work with a lot of texture, bold colors, and sharp contrast in my paintings due to the many spiritual and cultural influences in my life. I prefer the spontaneous abstract expression. My artistic expressions are intrinsic reflections of my life experiences. Each work is infused with my own intrinsic energy, a kind of spirit or Chi to bring some happiness and prosperity to the viewer.