John Buck was born in 1946 in Ames, IA. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Institute and School of Design, and went on to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME. The artist received his MFA in 1972 from the University of California, Davis, where he also met his wife, artist Deborah Butterfield. Buck and Butterfield divide their time between a ranch in Bozeman, MT and studios in Hawai'i.

He has been the recipient of several major commissions, including artworks for Swedish Medical Center in Seattle in 1998. He was the recipient of the National Artists Award in 1984 and was awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1980. Buck's work is included in several major collections around the country, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Art Institute of Chicago, The Brooklyn Museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Honolulu, Denver Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Seattle Art Museum. In Chicago, his work can be found at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery.

Artist website: johnbuckart.com

“Much of the imagery in my work is derived from research of historical events and the artists, scientists, explorers, and scholars involved in their pursuits. I feel very strongly about historical references being central to the content in my art.

Printmaking has a history of using popular imagery, humor, and politics to critique society. My work is an extension of that tradition and I frequently study art history and the work of other artists who have pursued these issues in their work. The compositions and images that I combine with the human figure are intended to illustrate concepts and ideas within the human experience.”

– John Buck

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The Seattle Times
John Buck at Greg Kucera: creation, destruction and more
by Gayle Clemans
August 1, 2014

This video interview and footage is from the exhibition C'est Magnifique at Hilliard University Art Museum, Lafayette, Louisana, from January - May, 2013. http://vimeo.com/61761335.

The following article is taken from the Seattle Times, October 27, 1998:
Entertainment News by Robin Updike
…Kucera says his new wide-open space is going to make showing sculpture a lot easier. "The previous space was very linear. It was great for flat art. But over the years we've shown more sculpture, which needs more space." The current show of two-dimensional work and sculpture by Montana artist John Buck has plenty of breathing room. The front gallery is 28 by 60 feet. And there is a more intimate gallery in the back and exhibition space on the mezzanine and the sturdy back deck. The big deck juts out in back of the gallery and offers an expansive view of the grid of the railroad tracks as they near King Street Station, some three blocks away. Kucera plans to keep some sculpture on the back deck, an unexpected treat for those traveling north by train.