"My work explores the relationships between formal elements such as color, texture, proportion, etc., and the ability of those relationships to create an abstract narrative. Horizontal divisions of the picture plane tend to invoke comparisons to landscape. I don’t see the pictures that way, but I do appreciate the feeling of open space that those associations imply. With each section of a painting extending across the entire surface, from one edge to the other, there is the sense that those spaces might extend infinitely beyond the edges of the picture. That breathing room gives me the latitude to create whatever story I feel fits the context of a particular painting."
Clay Johnson was born and raised in Durham, NC, where he studied art and art history at Duke University, receiving a B.A. degree in 1985. He then worked for several years as assistant to painter Robert Natkin in Connecticut and New York City.
In 1998 he began exhibiting paintings from his first series of mature work, which was loosely grid-based, and was inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee, such as Ancient Sound. Since then Clay's work has been exhibited widely at galleries across the country. He began his current series of work shortly after relocating to Wyoming, and, while essentially non-objective, the paintings contain a sense of the wide open landscape of the American west. Clay currently lives and works in Laramie, Wyoming.
Clay Johnson was born and raised in Durham, NC, where he studied art and art history at Duke University, receiving a B.A. degree in 1985. He then worked for several years as assistant to painter Robert Natkin in Connecticut and New York City.
In 1998 he began exhibiting paintings from his first series of mature work, which was loosely grid-based, and was inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee, such as Ancient Sound. Since then Clay's work has been exhibited widely at galleries across the country. He began his current series of work shortly after relocating to Wyoming, and, while essentially non-objective, the paintings contain a sense of the wide open landscape of the American west. Clay currently lives and works in Laramie, Wyoming.