Johnny Goes Full Circle
Artist
John Piet
(American, 1946 - 2016)
Datec. 1986
MediumGraphite on paper
DimensionsImage Size: 11 3/4 × 15 3/4 in. (29.8 × 40 cm)
Frame Size: 18 3/4 in., 22.8 lb. (47.6 cm, 10.3 kg)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineBequest of Karen and George Korinek, 2011
Object numberUAC4294
DescriptionDetroit-born and raised, John Piet was a highly intelligent, serious artist from the Cass Corridor era. His process is more reflective of a musician than a traditional visual artist, because he is less interested in the value of one piece, and more interested in making a body of pieces that add up as a whole. This reflects music in the way that musicians' string notes together to make up a song. In his lifetime, Piet earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College for Creative Studies, and his Master of Fine Arts from Wayne State University. He's received the Whirlpool Foundation Grant, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council of Arts art fellowship. Piet's work is full of immersive energy. Looking at his body of sculpture and drawings, you can feel the way that he used his intuition and his whole body to create his works, and as a result they are engulfing, abstract experiences. In Johnny Goes Full Circle, Piet used graphite, making big gestures round and round on the picture plane which are countering some nuanced details. With the circles, it also looks like there's a cage inside, and Piet's use of line work in some areas looks like stitching. It leads the viewer to a question: Johnny goes around and around in a full circle, but is he in fact trapped, or along for the ride?
