Christopher Johnson
dal 18/3/2004 al 19/4/2004
Segnalato da
18/3/2004
Christopher Johnson
Plus Ultra Gallery, New York
In this powerful new series of painting, Johnson expands his exploration of the inherent bankruptcy within material and spiritual excess. Focused again on a very American sense of desire, he has broadened his investigation to include our role in recent global events.
The crowd was mute and moveless
opening reception: friday, mar 19, 2004, 7 - 9 pm
Plus Ultra is very pleased to present “The Crowd Was Mute and Moveless,†our
second solo exhibition by New York artist Christopher Johnson. In this powerful
new series of painting, Johnson expands his exploration of the inherent
bankruptcy within material and spiritual excess. Focused again on a very
American sense of desire, he has broadened his investigation to include our role
in recent global events. Viewed through Johnson’s distinctive co-opting of
pan-art-historical allegory and approaches to painting, the crossroads where
America’s vulnerability intersects with our hunger for abundance provide a rich
source for this provocative critique.
The large canvases in this exhibition vary greatly in tone, density, and style,
quoting from Rococo painting, fairy tales, rock music imagery, epic poetry, and
popular culture. This disparity of motifs emphasizes the wish that they not be
read as one statement, but that they reflect the complexity and inconsistencies
within the world’s current state of affairs. “The Crowd was Mute and Moveless,â€
is a quote from a poem by Shelley, and, although whether Johnson’s critique is
read as “Romantic†falls to the individual viewer, he does reference the
Romantic’s fascination with Middle Eastern themes and textures.
Commanding attention among the paintings is “Crusader,†an intense and colorful
work based on the “I Dream of Jeanie†TV show. Set in the plush magic bottle
dwelling of the title character (a native of Baghdad), “Crusader†presents a
moment of surprise as a group of Nativity figurines comes to live and unleashes
a muscular blue genie from his bottle. A young American man—playing with the
Arab figurines and American toy soldiers, while virtually drowning in the pool
of treasures around him—and the friendly, iconographic Jeanie fall back,
astonished at the sudden intrusion of this idealized character into their
domestic drama. In “Idle Beauty,†a nude woman stands innocently at the foot of
a large strong tree in which dozens of bizarre characters are busily draining it
of sap. Even a huge rock nearby is assaulted and tapped for the valued resources
it contains. Seemingly unaware of what is happening around her, the woman
dreamily contemplates some small object in her hands. And
dream-like, somewhat sleepy expressions on the Seven Dwarves (and an odd
assortment of others) in “The Grape Heap†betray the encroaching peril as
they’re buried under a mountain of luscious fruit. Out head of the juicy heap,
an ostensibly ambivalent Snow White holds an apple she’s eaten down to the core.
And in the airy “Intoxicated Crusader (After Tiepolo),†based on the 18th
Century artist’s depiction of “Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida, the updated
seductress reclines on a mount of treasure, apparently complicit with the forces
she’s supposedly fighting against. Rinaldo remains transfixed by his own
reflection, while Disney-esque bluebirds lift his lover’s flowing skirt to
reveal odd characters cavorting underneath.
In the image:fancy, 2001, oil on canvas.
gallery hours: friday thru monday, 12 to 6 or by appointment
plus ultra gallery
235 south 1st street
brooklyn, ny 11211
718-387-3844