About TonyJohansen.com aka Tony Johansen
I come from that tradition of artists who have had to struggle for their art. One day it all might get easy, but I'm not holding my breath. I can't complain though, every day I live my dream: I am an artist. Every day that passes I grow and develop, that is a good feeling. I am 49 years old and as my skills refine I feel closer and closer to the beginning of my life.

I have always painted. I was lucky, my parents discovered early on that the one thing that kept me happy was making artwork and reading. Despite attempts to be conventional and buy a house and have a steady job, and the depresions that resulted from that, I have ended up making artwork and reading. And I have never been happier in my life. Practical things are no easier than ever, but so long as I can create I am in heaven.

Universal Ideal
Leonardo da Vinci was always my ultimate inspiration. He said "the painter must strive to be universal." I love that ideal, my interests range from astronomy, archaeology, and physics to woodworking, computers and writing.

There was a time when education was about thinking and analysis. About completeness of the mind. Architects studied art and the human body first, for example, so it was easy for them to build beautiful buildings. Leonardo studied light as a science in order to better paint light as beauty. I love that Renaissance aspiration, I think that artists who do many things are better artists because of it. I know I am.

You will discover in these pages that I make sculpture and paintings, Digital art, portraits, poetry, watercolours and photographs, I make web pages and teach. I celebrate Leonardo's universal ideal every day.

An Independant Spirit
Art is the ultimate egoic enterprise, Team players join teams, I live the artists stereotype of the obsessive loner in the garret. I may be a people-person, but my creating is a singular affair. I love the independence allowed by the internet. It makes it possible for me to retain my freedom from the restrictive strictures of the traditional gallery system, yet still reach a large audience. With the computer I am free.

It also opens the world of digital art and the sharing through digital photography all of my art as my contribution to this first truly democratic cultural explosion in history. From my studio in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia, the world is my gallery. Leonardo would have loved to be part of it. His memory and inspiration are already there.