To create his paintings, John Joseph Hanright draws from several strains of American popular culture and high art from the past 60 years, mining advertisements and magazine headlines for inspiration, in addition to comics and Pop Art. His complex narratives investigate the interpersonal dynamics between men and women, employing action as a metaphor for heroes and hookups.

His work blends several methods to make contemporary Pop artworks full of manic verve. Using collage, text, and painting, Hanright’s assemblages are iconic, but densely layered, both in terms of imagery and content. He draws on the nostalgia evoked by noirish comic book figures, and from elements clipped from magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Look and other vintage publications.

Reminiscent of artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, Hanright describes his work as, “Thought provoking, sexy, combinations of Conceptual Art, Americana, pop culture and derived from life in the ’50s to present day.”