Wayne Johnson

Sometimes the creative act can be planned or it can emerge spontaneously, even accidentally. When working I try allow for such flexibility, for unforeseen ideas and images. The drawing process itself is a form of meditation--a sort of a visual “dreaming.” In my drawings I limit my palette to a very precise range of perceptual stimuli: black dots and white spaces. Their reciprocal interactions form various patterns and gradations of white, gray and black or near black—a hand-made gray scale, if you will. Sometimes “real” images are there, sometimes imaginary objects, sometimes just a suggestion of veiled or folded space. If the eye tricks the brain into “seeing” colors, which don’t actually exist on paper but become a part of the illusion, then part on the artist’s intention has been realized.

I am much influenced by “Vanitas” paintings of the Dutch Renaissance, the work of Albrecht Durer, M.C. Escher, Edwin Dickenson, Bruce Conner, Peter Milton and the incredibly gifted artisans of the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospel.

I include both abstract patterns and realistically delineated objects to further the illusory process or to suggest new elements as potential “meanings” in the work unfold. This approach allows for a dynamic of improvements, changes and alterations which, hopefully, impart new layers of metaphoric depth to the work. I assemble objects which have symbolic meaning for me. I use both public and private icons.

As time passes and the drawing progresses, I may include current events or situations occurring to me in that moment. Thus, I often succumb to the temptations of “literary” or “narrative” images. I hope to create visual ambiguities and/or contradictory relationships which might serve the same function as they might work in Sufic parables. I expect, however, that relationships will vary substantially from person to person. If the work becomes a field in which the viewer may apply his or her own mental image or to develop their own sense of “meaning,” beyond my own imagination, then perhaps I have added something of value to their world.

Wayne Johnson lives in Front Royal, VA where he has his studio. He holds an MFA in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, a M. Arch. II (ABD) from UCLA, and a B. Arch. from the University of Texas, Austin. He also has completed a Graduate Photography Seminar at San Francisco State University and photography workshops at Foothill College, CA.

He has taught at the Art Institute of Washington, DC; the Elizabet Ney Museum School, Austin, TX; James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA; Marymount University, Arlington, VA; Northern Virginia Community College, Sterling, VA; and UCLA Extension School, Los Angeles, CA; and served as a Teaching Assistant for one year at UCLA Urban Innovations Group.

His work has appeared in Stanford University Press publications and as covers and illustrations for a variety of small press and poetry magazines, as well as in articles and publications including "Herbal," HD Johnson; ”Small as a Resurrection,” HD Johnson; "Guitar against the Wall", David Gitin; "Carrion House Christmas Catalogue," St. Martin's Press, NY, for which he was the co-author; and "Coastlight," for which he was the co-editor.

Exhibits include

• Feb Four Show, Foundry Gallery, Washington, DC, 2011
• VA Artists 2010 Exhibition, Hampton, VA, 2010
• Group Show, Barry Gallery, Arlington, VA, 2008
• 18th National Drawing & Print Competition, Gormley Gallery, Baltimore, MD, 2007
• Invitational Drawing Show, Barry Gallery, Arlington, VA, 2004
• Group Show, Barry Gallery, Arlington, VA 2003
• Faculty Art Show, James Madison University, VA, 2002
• One Man Show at Artful Dodger Gallery, Harrisonburg, VA, 2002
• Two person Show, Common Market, Austin, TX, 1994
• Austin American Cartoonist Show, Austin, TX, 1993
• Go Figure Drawing Show, Austin, TX, 1993