Julienne Johnson Unveils New Exhibition at LA Artcore Brewery Annex March 3rd - 30th, 2013
Curator: Lydia Takeshita, Executive Director & Founder - LA ARTCORE.
- (1888PressRelease) March 01, 2013 - Julienne Johnson's latest body of work continues her exploration of communication and connectivity through her mixed media paintings on exhibit at LA Artcore - Brewery Annex, March 3 - 30, 2013. The opening reception and conversation with the artist will commence on Sunday, March 3rd. Johnson has coordinated a closing reception and poetry reading: SPOKEn WORD & PAINT, featuring acclaimed writers, Peter Frank (international art critic, curator, poet) and Jack Grapes (award winning poet, playwright, actor, teacher). The poetry reading will coincide with the closing of the exhibition on Friday, March 29th.
Johnson paints deep - through rich fields of color, from the subtle and misty to the intense and turbulent. Her paintings are heavily layered with words and objects, embedding such communications within numerous layers of oil glazes, as she reaches out in a multitude of languages including: English, Korean, Chinese and Arabic.
Sometimes the words speak and connect with us powerfully; other times we feel unable to decipher what is being said. It is exactly this sense of connection or lack thereof, that Johnson seeks to embody in these works - reflecting our world of technological connectivity; a world that brings us instantly closer - yet distances us from those physically and emotionally closest to us.
Johnson's work is direct yet subtle in its delivery, resonant and beautiful with its rich luminescent colors. Sometimes the colors are bold and powerful; other times hues appear faintly, as rose notes through a creamy mist.
Overall, Johnson's paintings have the effect of a shimmering, screenshot on canvas: informing our very place, within a wondrous world of technology - without ignoring it's capability of dissolving context in the aftermath.
For this Good Friday night event, Johnson has coordinated a poetry reading: SPOKEn WORD & PAINT, featuring acclaimed writers, Peter Frank (international art critic, curator, poet) and Jack Grapes (award winning poet, playwright, actor, teacher). The poetry reading will coincide with the closing of the exhibition, a Good Friday indeed.
"In this art it is not the thought that counts, but how such thought motivates and informs response. This response in turn generates the creation of an artwork, and the artwork remains as something more, much more than the mere residence of response." - Peter Frank, Art Critic for The Huffington Post, Associate Editor for Fabrik Magazine
"The impression of color comes first - rich, saturated, frequently in vivid, fire-bright or jewel-like colors, which are modulated through the multiple layers that gradually reveal themselves beneath the surface glazes."
- Ezrha Jean Black, Art Critic / Staff Writer for Artillery Magazine
"One wonders how Johnson's works can create such a complex range of impressions, from apprehension and a sense of pending cataclysm to overwhelming serenity."
"Johnson's interest in contemporary issues shapes her understanding of painting itself, a compromise between self expression and the turmoil of the unconscious."
- William Moreno (Curator / Museum Director ) Director of William Moreno Contemporary - Los Angeles, former Director of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and Founding Director of the Claremont Museum of Art.
"In these dynamic and tactile surfaces, diverse languages and civilizations intermingle even as they assert their own identities and presences."
- Aida Eltorie, Helioplis, Egypt (International Curator/ Producer, Curator- Egyptian Pavilion, Venice Biennale).
Johnson's interest in a poetry reading as closing reception comes from her own poetic inclinations and publishing achievements. The award winning songwriter (including a prestigious Grammy nomination), was formerly a Jack Grapes student. Her readings at Beyond Baroque Literary Art Center in Venice, CA were in fact, sponsored by Grapes. As for Peter Frank, before Johnson had even met the renowned art critic, she had avidly followed his trail of essays, through the most prestigious of art publications, seeking out venues where she could hear him speak. She was particularly attracted to a metaphoric language she experienced in his work: a language she understands best, that reveals itself in her visual artworks. Frank was editor of her book: JULIENNE JOHNSON- ASHES for BEAUTY, published, July 2012.
Johnson was a guest of ANIMA Gallery in Doha, Qatar in March 2012, as the sole American artist, with a group of 13 other international artists. Johnson's work can be found in private collections in the USA, Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
Johnson's exhibition schedule between now and 2015 include's:
DWIAN5 - March 15-August 25, 2013, The Arab American National Museum - Dearborn, Michigan - Curated by Elizabeth Barrett Sullivan, Curator of Collections at AANM. AANM is an Affiliate museum of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. Johnson has work in their permanent collection since 2011.
PORTRAITS OF THE FALLEN MEMORIAL: June 6 - 25, Mt. San Jacinto College, San Jacinto, California, Curated by Sherry Moore.
THE FRANKLYN LIEGEL MEMORIAL EXHIBITION: September 2- 30, LA ARTCORE (Little Tokyo) Los Angeles, California.
For more information on Julienne Johnson, please visit: www.juliennejohnson.com.
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