Aaron Johnson: "Staring at the Sun"
February 23 - March 23
Midt i en dunkel tid med politiske uroligheder verden over, flænser kunsten vintermørket som flammende stråler af sollys og cementerer den menneskelige ånds vedvarende og strålende styrke. Aaron Johnsons soloudstilling "Staring at the Sun" forsyner os med en optisk linse ind i hans personlige søgen efter lyset i mørke tider.
Johnsons nyeste serie af malerier præsenterer en myriade af figurer, der pibler frem blandt tvættede stænk af maling på det rå lærred. Gennem årene har Johnson i meget vid udstrækning eksperimenteret med brugen af forskellige teknikker til at udtrykke forskellige narrativer; fra at male på lærredets bagside til at lade lærredet totalt fortære af gamle sokker. Til ”Staring at the Sun” har Johnson valgt sin hidtil mest direkte og ekspressionistiske fortællerstemme. Her har han sluppet hænderne fra rattet og ladet malingen fosse ud over det hele. Fløjlshandskerne er røget af (eller sokkerne om man vil) og rå, grynede figurer er inviteret indenfor i ringen.
Figurerne i Aaron Johnsons værker vinder genklang i os alle gennem forskellige følelsesmæssige og psykologiske øjeblikke af romantik, trusler, humor og rædsel. Hans forsøg på at gennembore mørket med sollys, udspiller sig i mystiske fortællinger, hvor vi ser figurerne smelte ind og ud af hinanden og ind i deres omgivende landskaber.
Udstillingens største værk ”Nothing Comes From Nowhere” viser en højrøstet forsamling af mystiske karakterer, der umiddelbart ligner cowboys, nomader, engle, dæmoner, shamaner, zombier og genfærd. Vi ser på, alt imens figurerne spirer frem og bløder maling, der skaber en hjemsøgende atmosfære. I titelværket ”Staring at the Sun” bliver vi vidner til en farverig skare, der i deres målrettede søgen efter solen, stimler sammen omkring en flammende orange kugle. Den hvirvlende figurative komposition trækker beskueren helt ind i billedet for at deltage i optoget omkring solen.
Aaron Johnson lokker os indenfor i sin forunderlige maleriske verden af saftige farvepaletter og dragende obskur energi.
Udstillingen viser 9 akrylmalerier
Aaron Johnson vil være til stede til ferniseringen og tilgængelig for interviews.
Kontakt galleriet på [email protected] eller tlf. + 45 33 33 93 96 for nærmere information
In the midst of the darkest days of political turmoil around the world, art will rip the winter darkness like fiery rays of sunlight and cement the persistent luminosity of the human spirit. Aaron Johnson’s new solo show ”Staring at the Sun” provides a lens into his personal quest to seek light in dark times.
Johnson’s newest paintings present multitudes of figures who emerge from washes of paint stained into raw canvas. While Johnson has always been an experimental painter, with tricks over the years ranging from painting in reverse to crusting up his canvases with old socks, in these new works he expresses his most direct and expressionistic painterly narrative. Johnson seems to have taken his hands off the wheel, allowing the paint to gush around the canvas, and he has taken off the gloves (or the socks off), inviting raw and gritty figures into the ring.
The figures in Aaron Johnson’s works resonate with us in various emotional and psychological moments of romance, menace, humor, and horror. His quest to pierce the darkness with sunlight is played out in mysterious narrative scenes, where we see figures melting in and out of each other, and into their surrounding nature and landscapes.
The exhibition’s largest painting “Nothing Comes From Nowhere” presents a raucous gathering of mysterious characters, suggesting cowboys, carnies, angles, demons, shamans, zombies and spirits. We observe how the figures germinate from pours and bleeds of paint, resulting in a haunting ghostly energy. In “Staring at the Sun”, the titular painting of this exhibition, we witness a colorful crowd of sunseekers, gathered around a blazing orange orb. The swirling figurative composition pulls the viewer right in, to join this procession around the sun.
Aaron Johnson lures us into his weird and wonderful painterly world with a juicy sense of color and salacious comic grotesque energy.
The exhibition shows 9 acrylic paintings
Aaron Johnson will be present at the opening and available for interviews.
Contact the gallery at [email protected] or phone + 45 33 33 93 96 for further information
Sasha Bogojev from Juxtapoz Magazine has been on a studio visit with Aaron Johnson while his exhibition was in the making. Read the article HERE
About Aaron Johnson
