I’m excited to share with y’all the details for the upcoming gallery by an old friend of POD, Johnny Fan. This coming May 11th, I invite you all to head out to the Del Dia Creative Space in Pilsen from 6pm to 10pm for the “1996 / 10000” Gallery by Johnny Fan.
The celebration of art event will not only feature curated work from Johnny’s collection, but attendees will also be treated to performances by artists like Matt Muse, Ryen, & Apollo Mighty among others. Free grub & drinks plus sounds by Finesse Fest, Core Rex, & more. A bit of everything to cater to your many senses.
If you’re into this vibrant culture we have in Chicago and want to support the people help foster it, this event is for you. Get your tickets here: www.hiraeth.splashthat.com
To further support this dope event, I connected with Johnny for a short interview about this gallery he’s putting together, coming up as a photographer, & where he wants to take his work. Check out the interview I held with Johnny below.
For those of you that have followed us throughout the years, one of the first photographers that we worked with to offer a platform to showcase their work was Johnny Fan. The Chicago creative’s photography landed on our pages thanks to shots of Skylar Grey & Common’s AAHH! Fest (J. Cole, The Roots, Ice Cube), and we’ve remained engaged with his career to this day. Learn more about the man behind this all…
Oscar Oliva Jr (OOJ): What made you want to put together this solo gallery show?
Johnny Fan (JF): Man, it’s always been a dream of mine to have my own gallery show. I actually wrote about it as a goal/dream in 2017 in Jonathan Earley’s Chicago Creatives Yearbook (https://www.chicagocreativesyearbook.com/#/johnnyfan/) where I literally wrote “This year, I would love to have a gallery show and continue exploring the creative field.” It did not happen but I spoke it into the universe. However, it doesn’t matter what you speak if you don’t put in the work to do so! I firmly believe that.
2018 passed by and it was a rough year from juggling school, a full-time job, a part-time job, and freelance work. I needed to get going on this. I’m finally graduating 2 days after my gallery show. So in a sense, this is a toast to my student creatives, my young business professionals just trying to make it.
So, here we are now, in 2019. I’m graduating in less than 48 hours after this show. It’s really a surreal experience for college. I have so much to share with the world. This is my first step.
OOJ: How’d you select the visuals you’re showcasing?
JF: It was hard. When you’re posting on Instagram, it’s so easy to just let everything fly and hit the post button. But when it comes to putting money into printing images onto a large format, museum quality canvas — things start to get trickier. I wanted to showcase the growth of a few things in my work from landscape to documenting music. There’s still a lot of work I want to improve on in my skill set but this show is really all about documenting progress.
As creatives or artists or photographers, we get so caught up with doing that we often forget about what we have actually “accomplished.” It’s always onto the next step and next goal.
I understand that cause I feel the same way. However, an analogy to my photography, I freeze time. And I wanted to freeze moments in our career between myself and all the artists performing that we are putting in our hours. They say you need 10,000 deliberate hours to become an expert into any craft. Well, here’s our progress — 1996 hours in.
OOJ: What was the first photo that made you feel like you were up to something with your photography?
JF: I literally took a photo off my iPhone 4 when I was 15 or 16. I was in Hong Kong and I shot a photo off the highway / tunnel and posted it on Instagram. Some friends commented like “Hey man, this is cool — what DSLR camera do you have?” And I didn’t know how to respond because I did not have one. But it really made me think cause I was like “Hey, people don’t know I have a camera but people think it’s a DSLR camera quality.”
So in the back of my mind, I told myself I needed to get a camera within the next few years after I save up some money from jobs. I worked for the next few years to do so. I finally got my first camera ever when I was 19. It was a Canon T3i. A few months later, my good friend Mike Luna (who manages Xavier Omar) put me in tune with OkayPlayer. I have everything to thank for Mike who gave me my first opportunity…ever. Then about a month after that shoot happened, got to live out a dream of mine and go on tour with Atlantic Records’ music artist Sir the Baptist. We did major festivals across the U.S. as I continued to document the tour and build his brand visually.
Since then, I’ve been sparked. I’ve been hooked. It set a fire in me that I don’t think will ever die.
OOJ: What artists are you still hoping to be able to shoot photos of?
JF: I’ve shot some pretty big artists at festivals but I don’t think that is really important to me. The biggest thing to me in regards to this music work is how I can craft or tell a story from everything that goes on outside of just the music. The moments in between music. The moments before hitting the stage. The moments after consistently being up for 20 hours a day and still hitting the road to the next city.
See, I think that a music artist’s career is 50% audio and 50% visual in this day and age. Each artist has a brand and an image. I’m here to build that 50%. I know that it is just as important as the music.
But to answer your question, I’d love to be able to shoot photos of Pharrell, Kid Cudi, and Kanye West. It’s almost as close to the supergroup in Hip-Hop that could have been, Child Rebel Soldiers. It consisted of Kanye, Pharrell, and Lupe. If you threw Cudi in that — I don’t know if I could survive the musical genius between those 3.
Pharrell is my idol. Kid Cudi is my superhero. Kanye is my warrior.
OOJ: What artist/show has been your favorite to shoot?
JF: Travis Scott is a freakin’ monster. His energy really resonates with everyone experiencing his work on stage. From the stage crew, to the photographers in the pit, to the crowd. Front to back, left to right — Travis kills it on stage EVERY SINGLE TIME.
But again, I think it’s the intimate moments that really shine to me. With that, when I get the chance to work with the artist more directly—it just speaks to me more. I truly enjoy working with up and coming artists who are growing (just like me). It’s like documenting history for me. There are SO many talented artists.
Ari Lennox was a ton of fun! She was opening for D.R.A.M. and she is the kindest soul I’ve come across in this biz. I met 6LACK backstage at JMSN show and snapped a portrait of him. Several weeks (or months) later, he shaved his head so glad I got to get a pic with his iconic hairstyle haha.
But to answer your question, in 2017, I shot Day N Night festival in Anaheim, California for Bandsintown. This opportunity flew me out to California for the first time. It was THE most beautiful thing I have ever done. I flew out after my last class on Thursday and spent Fri, Sat, and Sun in Cali. I flew back Monday morning to arrive back to class. Probably the craziest 72-96 hours of my life!
OOJ: What are you hoping to achieve with this art form?
JF: I always say my superpower is freezing time. It’s like documenting history. Life moves so fast man and I feel like this is my only way of being able to slow down or freeze time.
OOJ: You have a pretty dope lineup of artists performing at this event. How’d you select them?
JF: Yes, yes – I’m glad you recognize that! These artists are both established and emerging artists. Everyone single artist here is destined for freakin’ greatness. I say that with vigor and truth. I really mean it. I’d like to say that I have a really good taste and if you come to the show, you’ll know what I mean.
My guy, Blake Saint David is 18 years old and is on the edge of breaking out. He reminds me of Kevin Abstract vibes. He’s got this sound that is special. He has over 10k+ monthly listeners on Spotify right now. Keep your eye on him!
From Latin, to HIp-Hop, to R&B, we really bringing together the community. We are embracing a celebration of art. We all come from different walks of life and how we came in tune with our creativity. I wanted to share that with the world — each of these artists progress as well as my own.
See full FAQ here: https://do312.com/events/2019/5/11/1996-10000-gallery
