Magnus Johnstone Visual Art

09/13/2025

Hello friends!

If you are in the Norwood (MA) area or can get there, our friend Trevor "KARMA" Gendron has some great small and medium sized Magnus canvases on display at his excellent new Spec.I.Men.Studios space in the 61 Endicott Street complex. He is in Building 23.

They should be up there through the end of September, Thurs - Sunday.

Follow Trevor on IG .i.men.studios. It's a really great spot, he has a lot of top-shelf new and used books and magazines for sale there, with a heavy visual art / graffiti / hip-hop bent.

07/14/2025

Happy Cosmic Arrival Day to the amazing Magnus, who first visited this planet on this day in 1952.

Photo taken in the WMBR studios, mid-80s, by our pal John Nordell. (The group in the background is The Fat Girls).

12/22/2023

Magnus

07/14/2023

Happy cosmic Bday, Magnus! (Born 1952, he would have been 71 years young today.

We will never forget you!

In his honor, we suggest doing something extra nice for an artist or weirdo in your life today.

[ Photo by Philin Phlash, early or mid-1980s ]

02/22/2023

Magnus passed away 10 years ago today: February 22, 2013. We miss you, sir!

Thankfully, your spirit and work lives on with your friends and fans who will never forget you.

[Photos by Mango Johnstone]

If anyone else has any good Magnus photos, especially ones that show him smiling and doing things he loved, feel free to post a couple....

12/11/2021

Since many of Magnus's friends (and former DJ peers) follow this page, we wanted to let you know: starting this weekend, Want List Records in Newton -- co-owned by two of Magnus's WZBC peers from the '90s, Brian Coleman and David Belson, who were both deeply influenced by him as a person and a music seeker -- is going to be offering a very select group of records from Magnus's personal collection for sale.

ALL proceeds will be donated to various charities that we believe Magnus would have supported - first up will be Brain Arts Organization, which runs Dorchester Art Project and Boston Compass Newspaper.

The first crate, which is in the store now, has some amazing African, Middle Eastern and Reggae LPs, along with a couple spoken word albums that Magnus fans will appreciate.

We hope to offer more crates in the future if this goes well, and we thank Pacey Foster for keeping many of Magnus's records safe and secure since Magnus passed away in early 2013.

Long live Magnus and the seeking spirit he instilled in so many of us!!!!

WZBC WMBR 88.1FM

07/14/2021

We were reminded by photographer MJ Finlan that today would have been Magnus's 69th birthday.

To help us remember our friend and his, MJ (aka Mickey aka Sid Limitz) sent us this great photo of "2nd Prize" winner Magnus that he just unearthed from his archives, taken in the late '70s, maybe 1978. Location uncertain, although Punkt Data or a Punkt Data sponsored event seems very likely.

Long live Magnus!!!!!! And thanks to MJ!!!

08/04/2020

06/29/2020

For those who knew Magnus personally and who might not have heard yet, we recently heard that his mom Jessie Petcoff passed away in May.

She was a true force of nature, a lifelong art lover and patron, and if you ever spent any time with her, you realized pretty quickly where Magnus got his fire and spirit from.

Here is a photo of Jessie from 2018, with Magnus's brother James, at their home on the Cape.

RIP Jessie, rest well.