John Register, Mojave Bus Station, 1978
About the Artist
John Register (1939 – 1996), New York City, New York – 1996 Malibu, California) was an American realist painter. Register graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with B.A. in Literature, in 1961. He met his wife Catherine Richards in a photography class at The Pasadena Art Center where he was studying commercial art. John Register and Catherine Richards were married on February 6, 1964. Living in New York, they had three children Peter, Kate and David by 1969, as John Register pursued a career in advertising at McCaffrey and McCall. In 1972 John Register famously stood up from a big client meeting and announced he had “a dentist appointment ” never to return to advertising. It was from that moment on that he dedicated himself to painting as a full-time career and passion. The family drove across the country in a 1966 Volvo with two cats and a Doberman, camping along the way. John Register photographed the cities they passed through. John Register said, “I look for offbeat beauty. I don’t know what I’m looking for until I find it. There are things so ugly that I can’t paint them. Sometimes I get depressed by that city, and by other cities I visit. But I like the patina of things that have been battered by life”. John Register’s vision of isolated streets, empty coffee shops, long shadows, old hotels, and bus stations “represent a haunting stillness tinged with regret and hope”, wrote Barnaby Conrad in John Register Persistent Observer. John Register was born with a genetic kidney disease that he battled until his death in 1996 at the age of 57. He was honored with a retrospective of his career in 1999.
Register’s work was used, and credited, as the inspiration for the video for “Turn My Head” by the band Live in 1997. His work was also featured in the movieIn Her Shoes(2005 film). DirectorCurtis Hansonliked the “loneliness” that Register’s paintings suggested for the feel of the film.
John Register, Hanlei Bay, 1989, oil on canvas, 49 x 72 in (124,5 x 182,9 cm), SOLD.
John Register, WASTELAND HOTEL, 1990, Silkscreen edition of 85, signed and numbered, size: 42 1/2 X 56 1/2″. Price upon request.
John Register, Restaurant Overlooking the Pacific, 1990, 13 color lithograph, signed and numbered, size: 15.5 x 22 in., edition of 60. Price upon request.
John Register, Oak Chair, 1990, etching with aquatint, signed and numbered, 8 x 8 in., part of the edition was hand-colored. Price upon request.
John Register, Untitled, color lithograph, signed and numbered, size: 6 x 6 in., edition of 60. Price upon request.
John Register, Restaurant, 1990, etching with aquatint, signed and numbered, 6 x 6 in. hand-colored: edition of 12; black &white: edition of 19, Price upon request.
John Register, Waiting Room, 1990, etching with aquatint, signed and numbered, 8 x 8 in., edition of 40. Price upon request.
John Register, Train Station, 1990, etching, signed and numbered, 6 x 6 in. edition of 24. Price upon request.
Literature:
John Register: Persistent Observer (Englisch) Hardcover – February 1, 1999, by Barnaby Conrad III (Author)
