On a perfectly warm Wednesday evening, Marcus and friends hosted a Bastille Day celebration at Gallery 464 in celebration of the French Independence Day. Brie and grapes, Edith Piaf and artists who have been exhibiting at the young gallery were all in attendance, sporting imaginative fake French name tags to match their red and white striped clothing. The event was as amusing as it was welcoming, but perhaps the best few minutes of the night was a sneak preview of the new work by Mary Johnson, who has an opening Friday at 6pm.
Johnson’s work is a labor intensive series of illustrations made with oils, inks, paper and board. To view her work online does it little justice, if any; apparent in the final product are gestural sketches layered over with a wash, small instances of the paper’s texture and chunks of built up paint. She tells me she begins with paper that she has collected from various locations, to play off the overall theme of collected memories. The paper is attached to a stiff board and then sanded, gessoed and washed over with ink or oil–just to begin. Her instinctual gesture drawings lightly build over the surface to clarify the overall shape and content of the piece. Oils and/or ink are layered on once more, in a thicker fashion than before in order to detail the gestures. Lastly, the artist attaches collage element–such as illustrated cutouts or simple textural elements–also collected at varying points in time. “I find great satisfaction in creating my work and spending time in the depth of each object, and pattern.”
If the overarching theme of memory is transparent in the way Johnson works, then certainly the paintings themselves are a study of the human memory and its intricacies. Through shape, layers and collaged objects, Mary Johnson is able to visually realize flashes of recollection, using color to conjure nostalgia and familiarity. “The act of art making is a perfect way to explore the study of memory,” states Johnson. “Objects in my paintings and drawings are often drawn with facets and linear forms that connect to one another. Layers are obscured and then rediscovered, reflecting our own searching and sifting through memories. Connections are made between pieces of memories that originated at different points in time to create a whole painting or drawing that discusses connections formed between one’s various life events.”
Similarly, Johnson connects the paintings in her series to each other by moving from one canvas to another in a single night, letting the medium she has in her hand be the guide. This method may seem foreign to many artists who immerse themselves in one work until completion, but for Johnson, it seems like the only logical way to really link the paintings to each other. The colors reflect and complement one another from painting to painting. It’s possible that Johnson unconsciously pulled the fragments from one lone memory, and churned out individual images like single frames. She attributes the idea for the show’s theme to the late Louise Bourgeois who studied the effect a unique and traumatic childhood can have on the mind.
As Gallery 464 build up its own memories of a successful first few years, Johnson looks forward to being one of the many local creatives able to fill the space. “The great thing about the space at 464 is that the group of artists that show there are so diverse, and many of the artists are experimenting with various media, as I am. I think something that we all have in common, though, is pure dedication to our work and our practice.”
See Johnson and her work in person Friday evening at 6pm, 464 Amherst Street.
Mary Johnson
“Remnants of a Life Undercover”
Friday, July 16 6-11 PM
Also upcoming:
Pop! A 3-D Show
Sean Madden & Matt Duquette
Friday, July 23, 6-12 PM
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Laura Duquette is a former ballerina who now dances with words
and punctuation. She has a knack for asking questions faster than the
speed of sound, and her interviews are often off the cuff and personal.
She is Co-Owner of 12 Grain
Studio, a Buffalo based creative firm that gives typical web design a
kick in the