John thinks of himself a primitive artist, creating primitive art. He says, "Herman Melville said that many men are primitives, whether they are doing scrimshaw, or carving bone. The most famous primitive of all was Albrecht Durer. If this is true, I'm surely a primitive. I don't think I'm any better than a cave artist." 

John considers himself a primitive for several reasons: "I'm not a good painter, but I'm a fairly good technician," he says. Secondly, "I'm really not that good and I struggle with that. I remember Grandma Moses was untrained as an artist, yet she was celebrated. She was honest, loving, and humble. People hunger for that kind of virtue and I work at that." Thirdly, John believes that screen-printing is an accessible art, for the average man to enjoy. "Financially, prints are available to all walks of life. An average person can own quality artwork. When one owns a good print they can feel like they are part of something…kind of like a shareholder."