Paul Johnson, Jesus Loves You Cooling Spot, 2005, Paper on board, 160 x 76.5cm. |
Paul Johnson's Practice of Painting with Hand-Colored Collage-Pieces |
Paul Johnson, Sister, 2006, Hand coloured paper on board, 75 x 55cm. |
Mizuma Art Gallery Paul Johnson creates paintings from intricately detailed constructions of collage. He hand-cuts and then interlocks tiny fragments of hand-coloured paper to create a surface that starts to communicate within the language of painting. The family is a central theme to Johnson’s work. This is not a family in the traditional sense, but the idea of constructing an imagined community. Each member is slowly handcrafted with devotion to expand this gathering of people. The coming together of this group through shared ideologies and an exploration of belief systems manifest themselves in the constructed auras that float, flow and happen around every person. Sensitive Chaos brings together for the first time Johnson's portraits’with his new collages that take the form of banners. These hanging constructions are an extension from his portraits, and allow the artist to start building the world where these people might exist. Johnson is imagining, with these banners, what a gathering might look like in the form of a parade or march. The banners are doubled sided, so as to allow for a further exploration on the reverse side into a world of abstraction, that hints at an inner space or possibly a view into deep space. These banners were created during an Artist Residency at Camden Arts Centre, London, 2007. Johnson has exhibited both in internationally and in the UK. He has had solo shows with One in the Other, London in 2003 and 2005. In 2008 he will be included in the group shows Living London, 176 space, Zabludowicz Collection, London; Brotherhoods, Kunstbunker, Numberg, Germany; and New Britannia, Saatchi Gallery, London. |
Paul Johnson, Brother (Be Calm), 2005, Paper on board, 45.5 x 66cm. |
