Gallery News
Past: Jay Johnson Nov. 24th - Dec. 29th, 2007
A long time figure on the San Diego art scene, Johnson is at heart a story-teller. His works have been described as elegant observations of the complex layering of everyday life. Johnson’s sculpture tends to be wry, often biting observations of life. The sculptures play with both the notions of the everyday object and it’s unstable nature. Johnson is simultaneously gestural and restrained, integrating both painting and sculpture. A small wooden figure, a type of “every-man” character, pops up in many of Johnson’s pieces. Whether diligently rowing boats, making art, stacking objects, sleeping or daydreaming; this lone figure seems to represent the artist as a character in day-to-day situations and tableaus. “His personality is in the work, the compulsiveness in the craftsmanship and the disarming directness,” said Hugh Davies, the Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in an interview about the artist.
This exhibition will feature new sculptural works by the artist, which have evolved from these notions of the uncertain and multifaceted meanings in everyday life.