John Cogan is certainly not your typical artist. After earning a Ph.D. in atomic physics, John spent two years working in the field of geophysics before he made a big detour and became a full-time painter. But John does not see it as such a big change. “The whole physical world is interconnected in a grand design,’ John points out. “My doctoral thesis work was on atmospheric collisions between simple atoms and protons. Now I find myself considering how the physics of the atmosphere affects the color of the sky and how to convey that color in paint.” John also relies on the physics of light and optics to better understand how to render the created world in pigments. His knowledge of geophysics is reflected in his love of painting the great rock formations and massive mountains of the southwestern United States