A LaSalle artist uses numerous objects for his backdrop. His skill gives a new meaning to the phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff.”
John Kettman calls himself a pop-culture artist. He said if there is an interesting topic in the news or something political, he grabs it. He said he created art of the current and a former president on garbage cans.
“I did the Donald Trump Pumpkin and now I did Joe [Biden] and him on 30-gallon garbage cans,” he said. “And I call him Junk Yard Joe. And I call it Donald J. Junk.”
Kettman said he comes from a creative family. He started painting when he was in grade school. He took art lessons after school, and said he learned a lot from that teacher. He said this instructor pointed out that he had a knack for drawing faces. Kettman has taken that gift to a new level.
“It's almost like a strange thing that I pick up an item,” he explained. “Like a corn husk going across the field. Elon Husk, Elon, cornhusk, Husk, Musk. You know, you put two and two together like a little puzzle. Eminem on an M&M — A piece of candy.”
Kettman’s said the object must match the message he tries to convey. The list of objects goes on and on. For example, he said he saw a mural with Johnny Appleseed on it, and so he thought to put the character on an apple seed.
Kettman has carved and painted on things like pencils, quarters and even rice. That may seem unimaginable, but Kettman’s mind pushes the limit. So much so, he figured out a way to draw Bob Marley on a pot seed. He used a microscope to help create this. He said this took him 11 hours or until his eyeballs started to burn.
“It feels like the blood vessels are going to blow,” he said. “And my wife [said] 'Time to quit painting now. You should see yourself.' but it's like, yeah, I'll look, I'll look at my phone and look at my reflection and look like Rocky beat me up.”
Kettman said it normally takes anywhere from three to eight hours to complete some projects.
His first nontraditional canvas was a cracker. He said he was sitting at a restaurant having some soup and thought, “Polly wants a cracker.” So, he decided to paint a parrot on a cracker. He’s continued to paint many different things, large and small.
Kettman’s creativity slowed down when he moved from Streator to the northern suburbs of Chicago. Kettman said he had a great nightlife during that time. He frequented a club in Mundelein. He found himself drawing people on napkins.
“The Chicago Bears would hang out in there. I met Dave Duerson there and drew his portrait, he signed a napkin and gave it to me,” Kettman said. “Mark Bortz was in there one night with him and Otis Wilson, they're just hanging out just like everybody else.”
Kettman said his creativity picked up when he moved back near his hometown. He credits his second wife for helping him push his imagination. He said she helps him critique most of this works.
“I'll ask her, ‘Hey, does that eye look right? Does that nose look right?’ he questioned, “It always helps for someone else to look over your stuff to see if you've made a mistake.”
He recently visited Greece with his daughter. He said while he was there, he was flooded with even more ideas.
“Not only was I inspired by the people and the culture around me, but by the biblical places we visited,” he added. “You know, you read, you go to church, you hear this hear this story and that story, but now you're walking where Roman emperors have walked.”
Kettman and his daughter watched the locals make olive oil. He asked if he could have a piece of the olive tree and he was gifted a branch. He said he plans on cutting it up into slices. He will take these chips and draw portraits of famous people on them.
He said every object has a different feel to them. He also describes it as having a psychic ability. He saw a rock that looked like an ear, and he said he thought “who lost their ear?”
“Oh, I know." he continued, "Vincent van Gogh. Vincent van Gogh ear, ‘Starry Night.’ Vincent van Gogh eerie night on an ear. A rock shaped like an ear with ‘Starry Night’ on it. It's just strange.”
A recent creation involved a cicada, which he named and put into a little jar.
Kettman said he is in competition with himself. He wants to teach others how to do what he does. Other goals are to have one of his pieces put on a postage stamp and to have a variety of his work displayed at an art gallery. Until then, most of his creations can be seen on his Facebook page.
