Der er skønhed i ødelæggelsen
Døden stikker altid sit fjæs frem i Aaron Johnsons malerier. Et elskende par i erotisk ekstase bliver flået af vilde dyr, og en ræv med et frådende gab bider hjertet ud af brystet på den nøgne kvinde, han bedækker. Livskraft og dødsdrift, skønhed og destruktion, henrykkelse og sorg er i Aaron Johnsons billedunivers ikke modsætningspar, men sammenfiltrede og af hinanden afhængige vilkår ved tilværelsen. >>Skabelse og destruktion er tæt forbundne størrelser. Mennesket må erkende sin dødelighed. Døden rummer også skønhed,<< siger Aaron Johnson.
Udstillingen Liberty Chomp hos Gallery Poulsen præsenterer 13 nye Aaron Johnson-malerier. I flere af sine nye værker retter Aaron Johnson blikket bort fra det specifikt amerikanske og fokuserer på menneskedyrets eksistentielle livskamp. Men vi får også et gensyn med hans barokke motivkreds af antihelte, som tager USA under kritisk behandling. Med perverterede udgaver af Kristus, Uncle Sam, Frihedsgudinden og amerikanske superhelte afsøger Aaron Johnson de beskidte hjørner af den amerikanske drøm.
Alle de nye malerier er skabt med Aaron Johnsons enestående, tidskrævende teknik, som han selv kalder ”reverse-painted-acrylic-polymer-peel paintings”. Med sin baggrund i molekylærbiologi har Aaron Johnson udviklet denne metode, hvor han maler sine motiver spejlvendt på plastisk film - lag på lag på lag, hvorefter han piller motiverne af og overfører dem på en flade af polyesternet.
Denne originale teknik koblet med hans karakteristiske, farverige motiver har sikret Aaron Johnson talrige udstillinger – dette er hans tredje i København. Hans udstillinger er blevet anmeldt flittigt, i bl.a. Art News, Beautiful Decay, Kunst International, The Art Newspaper, The Village Voice og The New York Times. Han er at finde i New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s faste samling, hvor hans kunst netop nu er til skue i udstillingen Exquisite Corpse.
Aaron Johnson kommer til København fra den 8. maj og stiller gerne op til interview.
For yderligere information om udstillingen, kontakt gerne Morten Poulsen på +45 4015 5588 / [email protected]
There’s beauty in destruction
In Aaron Johnson’s paintings, death always sticks its face forward. A loving couple in erotic ecstasy is ripped apart by wild animals, and a fox with a foaming mouth bites the heart out of the chest on the naked woman he mounts.
In Aaron Johnson's pictorial universe, vitality and death, beauty and destruction, rapture and grief are not opposites but intertwined, mutually dependent conditions of existence. >>Creation and destruction are closely linked. Man must realize his mortality. Death also has beauty,<< says Aaron Johnson.
The exhibition Liberty Chomp at Gallery Poulsen presents 13 new Aaron Johnson paintings. In several of his new works Aaron Johnson moves away from a specific American context and focuses on the human animal's existential life-struggle. But we are also reunited with his baroque motifs of anti-heroes who give the United States a critical treatment. With perverted versions of Christ, Uncle Sam, Statue of Liberty and American superheroes, Aaron Johnson explores the dirty corners of the American dream.
All the new paintings are created with Aaron Johnson's unique, time-consuming technique, which he calls "reverse-painted acrylic polymer peel paintings." With his background in molecular biology, Aaron Johnson developed this method, in which he paints his motifs in reverse on plastic sheeting - layer upon layer upon layer, after which he pills the motifs off and adhere them on to a polyester net.
This original technique coupled with his distinctive, colorful designs have secured Aaron Johnson numerous exhibitions - this is his third in Copenhagen.
Aaron Johnson’s exhibitions have been reviewed in many publications including Art News, Beautiful Decay, Kunst International, The Art Newspaper, The Village Voice, and The New York Times. His work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where his work is currently on view in the exhibition Exquisite Corpse.
Aaron Johnson is coming to Copenhagen May 8th and will be happy to give interviews.
For more info about the show, please contact Morten Poulsen +45 4015 5588 / [email protected]
