GET TO KNOW
IAN JOHNSON, WHO CREATED 2017-18 season artwork

June 22, 2017 | by SFJAZZ

As we launch the SFJAZZ 2017-18 Season, and its 330+ shows over 9 months starting in September, we took a moment to catch up with San Francisco-based artist Ian Johnson, who created the artwork for the Season catalog.

Ian Johnson

You seem drawn to the faces of jazz artists. Why is that?

I always liked drawing faces. I think that is a pretty common thing. I got into drawing musicians because of an assignment I had a school to draw a person with all straight lines. I choose to draw based on an Eric Dolphy photo. A year or 2 later, when we started Western Edition Skateboards, that drawing became the first graphic for the company, and it all kind of grew out of that.

Drawing by Ian Johnson

Your use of lines and color is consistent in most of your work. How do you use these elements?

I use those elements to allude to song structure and forms, radiations of ideas, chords, connections to thoughts, time, people – all kinds of things.

You love skateboarding as well. How does skating influence your art? What connections do you see between jazz and skateboarding?

I got into the music through skating, so it's a huge influence in that sense. They're similar in a lot of ways. Solo, improvisational expressions using the framework of chords or modes in music is akin to doing the same thing on a skateboard, but on the street using ledges, traffic, stairs and other obstacles.

Skate deck artwork by Ian Johnson

What should people know about your cover art for the SFJAZZ 2017-18 Season? What can you tell us about process and inspiration behind it?

SFJAZZ had a bunch of ideas initially, so it was pretty open at first. I did a couple sketches, then we met up and they had the idea of having the audience be more of element of the piece, because the experience of being at the Center is aural and physically special and unique. One of the references they gave me was of the 50th Anniversary of A Love Supreme Concert, which is really amazing. I hope it gets released and more people get to see that soon. We based the illustration off of a still from that concert, which has Marcus Gilmore on drums and Nicholas Payton on trumpet in front of the crowd. I did a couple other versions, but this was the one we ended up going with.

SFJAZZ 2017-18 Season artwork by Ian Johnson