Meet Johnny Duncan

We recently connected with Johnny Duncan and have shared our conversation below.

Johnny, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I don’t really feel like I found my purpose, rather it found me. I don’t think my purpose is 100% defined either. As I grow so does my understanding of purpose, and the things that matter more than what matters to just me. Lately I’ve just been focusing on the things that really bring me peace. You’ll have to rise up and face adversity, darkness, and overall general discomforts and pains. I feel like it’s my job to protect myself and share my experience with those I love, and in turn as I share that through my work I’m sharing that with everyone who even looks at it. I’m not quite sure what my purpose is, but I know it’s meant to be shared so I just give and give and it keeps working out.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I just love making art and I couldn’t stop. Being an artist was all I was ever going to be from day one. I’m a neo-pop-surrealism street artist living and working in New Braunfels, TX. I’ve got my hands in many buckets like fine art, murals, illustration, design, photography, curation and event coordinating.

Here I feel like an art activist, I’m hoping to increase the city’s pallet for art and pushing the culture beyond what it’s been limited to all this time. I’m always working on my own projects but I try and push other creatives to join me in pop up markets, group exhibitions, and anything to increase the buzz of the arts in anyway. I love the ability to connect not just my work to the people that will love it, but also opening that connection up to other artists and other audiences. I feel like I see something so special in the underdeveloped art scenes here and I just wanna take all my friends with me.

Lately I’ve been mostly focused on growing up in every way to better myself, better those around me, better my business, productivity, taking care of my body, mind, acquiring tools, better supplies, and even taking vitamins man. I just want to be the best I can which means I’m also increasing the scope of my focus as far as the distance that I plan and plot. I have a really big 2024 ahead of me and I’ve gotta Ocean’s Eleven this thing and do it just right. I have so much art work in the pipeline gearing for some big exhibitions like my upcoming solo exhibition at Creative Eye in San Antonio April 2024 where I’m unveiling a new series of work that I’m elated to put out.

Even sooner, I’ve curated a group exhibition for the New Braunfels Art League titled Centex Rejuvenance, which opened September 1st and runs until October 7th. This show features 52 hand picked Texas artists that reshape what defines Texas art. We’re all artists working and living here and I think with the multitude of creative voices with different pitches, textures, styles, and flows we deserve to announce our presence send a shockwave of inspiration that will help launch a creative revolution.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Sometimes you just gotta make yourself do the work. There’s been so many times that I put off a project for awhile and it starts to look like a mountain in the distance. That’s one of the best times to jump in and just start. So I wish I didn’t self induce that lazy anxiety, I work through it easier now and move along in those projects quicker and it’s fun and rewarding to me and the overall process.

Don’t make what you don’t want to make. It sucks, I’ve done a lot of projects to pay bills and if you can try to avoid digging tunnels you’re not going to want to travel through later. That’s also super hard though, but I think it’s important to always do it for the love. It’s more rewarding, it feels better, but it may take longer. You just gotta have your heart in it for the long run and it’ll all bloom for you I promise.

Get organized! I’m not talking like an alphabetical file cabinet, but maybe that’ll help too. My studio and workspaces still get insanely messy and sometimes I get lost, but I always bring it back to a clean slate. It really helps not just the flow of work but also the flow of my mind. It’s like there’s more room for creative energy to blossom instead of getting stifled from the hills of materials and unfinished projects, old coffee cups, that stack of books you keep taking off the shelf to weigh stuff down, and whatever else you have laying around like my laundry as I write this. It’s on it’s way out though!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
As a muralist and designer I thrive off of collaborations. I love integrating my work into other worlds and brands. I’ve always loved mash ups and references in art and it can be one of the most fun things when the team up makes sense. I’ve worked with companies like Google, Cartoon Network, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Whataburger, C4 Energy, and more. It’s always fun to have a crossover episode and that’s what it feels like to create something with another.

I’m always looking to take my art to new places and mediums and it works well in all of them. I love package design, album covers, murals in and on businesses, it would be cool to do some craft beers, car wrappings, sign installs, and literally anything and everything. It’s all possible and I love to explore so let’s explore together. If you’re reading this and you want to collaborate on a project with your brand of business you can contact me through my website at www.jenkins2d.com.

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