29 May – 28 June 2009
One in the Other 45 Vyner Street London E2 9DQ www.oneintheother.com
One in the Other are pleased to present ‘When We’re Gone Destroy Everything.’ This will be the third solo show of the British artist Paul Johnson. For the first time Johnson will be showing his banners and paper-mâché sculptures alongside his portraits.
The family is a central theme to Johnson’s work. He has been slowly building and nurturing a group of people over the past five years. Each member is devotionally handcrafted from intricately detailed constructions of collage. The coming together of this group of followers, through shared ideologies and an exploration of belief systems, manifest themselves in the constructed auras that float, flow and happen around each person.
Johnson’s portraits are created from a collection of fragments of found, collected and photographed images. He uses a technique of hand-cutting and interlocks tiny fragments of hand-coloured paper to create a surface that resembles the clarity and intensity of an illuminated manuscript. Johnson sees the collages as communicating within the language of painting.
In this exhibition the artist has started to build the world in which this community could begin to exist. The banners are an extension of his paintings; they invite the viewer to imagine a gathering in the form of a parade or march. The banners were developed and created after a residency at Camden Arts Centre in 2007. The paper-mâché talismans look like discarded moments of ritual or private gathering. They hint at hidden celebration or worship of some higher place or person.
Johnson’s paintings have grown out of a love of Alex Katz’s work. The calm, cool reality of Katz’s paintings is replaced with an edgy uncertain reality that yearns for a Katz type of calmness. Katz’s figures seem to be at one within a sun-drenched world, whereas Johnson’s men and women seem to worship the sun with a sense of longing and fear.
‘Throughout our life, what takes place in our head is actually always a reflection of the whole universe’
Rudolf Steiner
Paul Johnson (b.1972) lives and works in London. He studied at Royal Academy schools (2000-03) and at Glasgow School of Art (1993-96). Recent exhibitions include:
‘Sensitive Chaos’ (solo) Mizuma Gallery, Tokyo (2008). ‘Living London’ Zabludowicz Collection show, 176 gallery, London (2008) ‘Brotherhoods of Subterreria’, KunstBunker, Numberg, Germany (2008). Forthcoming shows include ‘Newspeak – British Art Now’ Saatchi Collection, Hermitage Museum, St.Peterberg, Russia and a solo project with Ancient and Modern Gallery, London.
