After abruptly leaving his job as an institutional brokerage director on Wall Street in 2008, John William Codling put his savings into his own art. That investment culminated in the massive opening reception of his "Me I Play" exhibit at East Hampton Studios.
A successful career followed suit, including exhibitions at Diane Von Furstenberg’s gallery and philanthropic endeavors in support of cancer charity Team Continuum; one could say John William Codling is living the American Dream.
The American Dream is a subject Codling addresses in his new body of work, "A Special Report," which premiered February 15th in Venice, CA at SL Gallery. Broadly drawn, saturated portraits of public figures take on the pressing questions of the day; among them the social consequences of greed, the corrosive effects of money and religion in politics, the contradictory aspirations embodied by the American Dream, and the destructive outcome of unquestioning faith in American exceptionalism through the media. With wit, satire, and passion, Codling waxes nostalgic without sentimentality, a time of youthful innocence and trusting relationship between the media and American Public.
