John Paul Caponigro
John Paul Caponigro is one of the most prominent visual artists working with digital media. His art has been exhibited internationally and purchased by numerous private and public collections including Princeton University, the Estée Lauder collection, and the Smithsonian.
John Paul dynamically combines his background in painting with traditional and alternative photographic processes using state-of-the-art digital technology. A form of environmental art in virtual space, his work is about the perception of nature and the nature of perception. His life’s work is both a call to connection with nature and a call for conscientious creative interaction with our environment during a time of rapid change.
Respected as an authority on creativity, photography, and fine art printing, he is a highly sought after speaker, lecturing extensively at conferences, universities, and museums, in venues as diverse as Photoshop World, Google and TEDx. He leads seminars and workshops around the globe.
John Paul’s work has been published widely in numerous periodicals and books including Art News and The Ansel Adams Guide. Author of the video training series R/Evolution and the book Adobe Photoshop Master Class, for over twenty years he has been a contributing editor to a variety of magazines and websites including Camera Arts, Digital Photo Pro, The Huffington Post, and Apple.
John Paul is a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame, an Epson Stylus Pro, and an X-Rite Coloratti. His clients include Adobe, Apple, Canon, Epson, Kodak, and Sony.
John Paul grew up in an artistic family. His father is a black-and-white fine art photographer and his mother is a painter and graphic designer. They introduced him to countless photographers, artists, musicians, writers, dealers, and curators including Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keefe. The most important thing he learned is that everyone is different – and that’s wonderful. At the age of two, John Paul almost got his family evicted from their Dublin apartment when he began making murals. His parents quickly paper-trained him.
Why does John Paul always wears black? Is it because he doesn’t want to make more color choices first thing in the morning? Is it because he spills a lot? Or is it because of his childhood obsession with Batman? John Paul fascination with moving pictures and the sequential arts led him to a brief stint as an illustrator. He even drew backgrounds for Marvel and DC comics. These drafting and story telling skills remain an integral part of his creative process today.
At a young age, John Paul was once caught snooping in Ansel Adam’s camera bag looking for the “cloud stick” he heard his parents joking about. John Paul got his own cloud stick in 1990; it’s called Photoshop. John Paul first’s introduction to digital imaging was in the 1970’s while his mother oversaw the printing of Eliot Porter’s Intimate Landscapes book. He instantly wanted what she called the Scitex machines – “million dollar coloring books.” Photoshop was his dream come true.
John Paul has traveled to all seven continents and all five oceans; he calls years he travels to both Greenland and Antarctica bipolar years. John Paul’s first iPhone is in the collection of the Smithsonian, along with the most interesting collection of his works, including prints in every medium he has used.John Paul collects photographs, trading with many of the artists he meets – Arnold Newman, George Tice, Joyce Tenneson, and many others.
