John Henry Haseltine is a Livingston-based artist and writer. His first book, Westward & Miserable, a collection of paintings and stories gathered from his past gallery shows, will be out in August 2024, available at Elk River Books. He is currently working to complete a new body of work for a solo exhibition at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, which opens October 26, 2024, and runs through the end of January 2025.

In addition to being a painter and writer, John Henry is a frustrated theater artist, a failed filmmaker, and a reviled musician. He sometimes makes puppets, but they aren’t super functional, and you have to be REALLY careful if you want to use them.

A self-taught painter, Haseltine is primarily inspired by American primitive painting and regional folk art, as well as by mid-century kitsch and punk-adjacent art from the 70s and 80s. He draws from his experiences working in other mediums and his fascination with storytelling to create paintings and sculptures that function as visual narratives.

Utilizing toys, puppets, performance and comics in addition to painting, Haseltine explores how both self-produced folk art and kitsch mass production equally contribute to the legacy of western mythology. He’s interested in the parallels between historical western expansion and contemporary gentrification in the region, as well as in the ways stories can be manipulated to represent local and personal identities. 

John Henry’s initial artistic obsession was filmmaking; he graduated from Emerson College in 2009 with a degree in film production, but an insurmountable distaste for collaboration and the tendency to make films that were more or less sequences of stagnant western-themed images drew him to both Livingston and painting.

Like many artists before him, John Henry finds Montana’s geography and history a limitless source of inspiration, despite rarely venturing outside his home studio or opening his blinds. He’s comforted in the knowledge that the vistas are out there, and will eventually get out and poke around some. He hears it’s amazing!

For more information and updates, visit www.johnhenryhaseltine.com or find him on Instagram @alittleboynamedjohnhenry