John Kohlburn is an openly gay St. Pete-based artist and teacher. His work is sunny, provocative and erotic all at the same time. After visiting John's web gallery, I had the opportunity to interview him, and met the refreshingly grounded, intimate and thoughtful character behind those wonderful paintings:
Creative Loafing: What is your passion?
John Kohlburn: My passion is to create. I want people to view me as a person who looks at the world differently. It shows in the way I teach, the way I paint and the way I live.
CL: Where did you grow up?
JK: I grew up in Bethalto, a small town in Southern Illinois, just outside of St. Louis.
CL: How would you compare your experience as a gay boy in the place you grew up, to being a gay man in the place you currently live?
JK: I grew up in the Midwest in the ’60s and ’70s. While it was a great place to be a kid, it was difficult being gay. It was taboo. I was not out. This had as much to do with the time I grew up as where I grew up. Now I am openly gay. I am honest and open about who I am. I want people to see there are many more similarities in our lives than differences.
