John Backlund

I've been an ‘on and off’ illustrator since the early 1970's when the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper published a simple ink line art cartoon illustration of a family riding on a sidecar-equipped motorcycle. For several years after, I was given newspaper illustration assignments on a freelance basis. I worked as a staff illustrator in Mason City, Iowa for a company that created and manufactured collectible stickers for children, and again as a staff illustrator for a Minneapolis graphics company that created airbrush illustrations for college-level science textbooks. I moved to Rapid City, South Dakota in 1993 and have continued to pursue both commercial illustration and 'fine art' in the form of watercolors, several bronze pieces, 'found object' sculpture and constructions, and most recently, the design of solidbody electric guitars, guitar amplifiers, and even furniture in the form of retro-futuristic chairs. I am an entirely self-taught artist/designer.

Through the years I have done many things besides art and design work, including several stints as a reluctant motorcycle salesman, a rather terrible guitar salesman, a very young and inept western Nebraska sandhills ranch hand, and most recently, a fairly good flatbed semi driver running a worn-out Freightliner FLD throughout the Midwestern United States.

I have never been commissioned to design products or items for others, and simply draw things that appeal to me, things that I would like to have but only exist in my own imagination, and are therefore unavailable anywhere else. I am obviously influenced by retro-futuristic design concepts that are reminiscent of the period between the mid-late 1930’s and the early 1960’s. The terms ‘Aero’, ‘Rocket’, ‘Streamline‘, and even ‘Atomic’ are often found in sentences that describe my design work in this area. Some express the notion that many of my designs are rather automotive in their ‘feel’, and I certainly don’t disagree with that, though the connection isn’t specifically intended to reflect automobile styling from any given time, it’s just that automobiles were the prominent, glamorous, and desirable tip of the enormous iceberg of industrial design that also encompassed all manner of more mundane everyday items and products from toasters, cloth fabric patterns, oscillating desk fans, and even drawer pulls. My design work in scope is more reflective of the entire ‘retro-futurism’ genre than any given item or commercial product. In a nutshell, I hope it can be said that my retro designs copy nothing, but remind of everything.

I like color in my designs. I like bright things. I like two-tones that compliment each other. I like a splash of chrome for contrast, and I like it all integrated into a flowing form that is ‘balanced’, well-proportioned, and pleasing to the eye. Solidbody electric guitars are a tempting and wonderful candidate for my style of design, and being a guitar player for many decades, it’s only natural that they figure prominently in my efforts.

-- John Backlund