Gerald Johnson Exhibit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        
August 20, 2007                    

Val A. Christensen

(417) 625-9631

 

JOPLIN, MO (SNS) – MSSU’s Spiva Art Gallery presents "Gerald Johnson: Is It A Painting, A Collage, A Print?" from August 27 through Sept. 21.

 

In 2001, Gerald Johnson returned to Joplin after a 34-year involvement in the New York art scene. He grew up in the Joplin area from the age of eight after his family moved here from South Dakota where he was born in 1944. He returned with a large number of paintings, collages, prints, weavings and sculpture from which the items for this exhibition were selected.

 

Johnson in his early years decided to become an artist. He attended classes at the Spiva Art Center and then Pittsburg State University. Harry Krug a renowned printmaker and faculty member there, influenced him greatly. The skills he learned in silkscreen printing would prove valuable to him after his move to New York in 1967. While developing his career as a fine artist, he worked as a master printer for Chiron Press and then O’Connell Graphics. He collaborated with artists who are now in art history books including Victor Vasarely, one of the originators of Op Art, Chuck Close, Photorealist artist, and  Alex Katz, figurative artist in the Pop Art vein.

 

The artist who had the greatest influence on him was Ilya Bolotowsky. Johnson became a studio assistant to the Russia born artist in 1981 and he taught him about Mondrian, the tenets of Neoplasticism and the Bauhaus.

 

Although Johnson’s work from then on exhibited the objectivity and universal qualities of geometrical abstraction, it nevertheless reflected the influences of his early life. There are certain forms derived from his earliest years in South Dakota near the Pine Ridge Reservation, trips to New Mexico and elsewhere, his collection of quilts, and his interest in Navajo weaving techniques. The visual qualities in his work he once described as “…sky, earth, space, and solitude.”

 

The title of the exhibition refers to the process Johnson used in the creation of his works He stated one time: “Collage is often the medium from which my paintings are realized; enabling me to find balance, equilibrium, and freedom to experiment with color and form.” It also refers to the visual qualities where the surface may look like there is a collage element. One can only determine if it is a painting and not a collage or print by close examination. Sometimes he will collage a piece on a painting or paint on a collage or print.

 

Johnson unfortunately has nearly ceased creating new work due to health concerns.

 

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a reception for the artists from 3 – 7 p.m., Monday, August 27.