Kelley Johnson American, b. 1973

Kelley Johnson’s recent work is an exploration of the formal language of painting and the application of those concepts onto installation and sculpture. The relationship between the participant and the painted object are crucial to the practice. This body of work focuses on investigating the interaction between painting and viewer and their negotiation of movement with the additional sculptural aspects of the pieces. The merging of physical space and optical illusions function as a metaphor of a kaleidoscope’s effects.

The creative process begins with mapping lines, geometric shapes that are then repeated, forming the foundation of a sculptural language for the work. This forms a type of system that allows room for intuitive, meditative painting. Sometimes the work stays within the confines of the painted support, but more often it occupies the physical space. During the building of work, there is a constant editing and adding of elements concerned with the pictorial space and physical objects that interact with it, allowing for optical tension within the exchange.

Each piece demands to be navigated, not simply absorbed from a single position. Viewers’ bodies are activated and engaged as one makes choices about how to circumnavigate the work. As the viewer explores the pieces from multiple vantage points, areas create spacial relationships, functioning as a dance. As changes reveal optical interactions that create patterns. The work functions as an escape to the reality away from the present-day frequent distractions. A visual rhythm fuels the chromatic artwork into a dialog about tension and vibrations between spaces. Design elements find an echo and beat while investigating the dialog between two and three dimensional space and a visual/ physical interaction with the viewer.