Born in Roseau in 1952, Eddy John spent his early years under the guidance of his grandfather, a carpenter and craftsman who tried to influence the young artist to pursue a career in woodworking. Not a particularly dedicated student, John spent his early school days drawing and day dreaming of becoming a famous artist. At the age of sixteen John was stricken with sickle-cell anaemia, which kept him physically incapacitated for about five years. He spent much of his time developing his unique artistic style, lying on his bed studying the natural movements in nature: trees swaying in the breeze, clouds moving across the sky and the sun setting on the horizon. The theme of nature greatly influenced his landscape painting.
In 1981 Ras Eddy John moved into his studio in the rain forest near Trafalgar, in the vicinity of one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful waterfalls. John found his inspiration in the natural beauty of the area, and was one of Dominica’s best known landscape painters.
John’s first artistic inspiration came from the Catholic Church. Although he claimed to have been influenced by works of Michelangelo and other artists of the renaissance period, in his religious paintings one senses an emotional rather than a technical kinship. In his naïve and intuitive style, John gravitated towards landscapes and scenes of village life. His paintings often depicted Dominicans at their best and worst in an attempt to influence their actions. These paintings are insightful and humorous. He travelled fairly extensively abroad and refused to allow the outside world to influence his decidedly Dominican view of what art is and should be.