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Seep In / Seep Out / Object / Image
dimensions variable: 18’x11.5’x10′ (at largest); purple cabbage dye, bloodwood dye, turmeric dye, madder dye, dragon fruit dye, matcha, indigo, inkjet prints on rice paper, metallic and rice papers on paper, cadmium pigment, acrylic medium, organza, faux fur, inkjet prints on vinyl, and plastic; 2018
Mary A. Johnson
Beijing, China
STATEMENT
“[Johnson’s work] investigates and reappraises the ontology in Franz Roh’s magical realism for the 21st century. It is an exercise in alchemy, an exhibitionist exhibition to expose the intricate, often grotesque beauty of an increasingly artificial world”
-Ida Yishuan, Aotu Space Curator; Beijing
Mary A. Johnson’s work is at once reminiscent of Dutch still lives, petri dishes and forgotten refrigerators. She uses organic materials and digital images in tandem to investigate places of tension and confusion, asking viewers to question their perception and experience.
About her own work: “The work exists on the razor’s edge: in between what repulses and attracts us, what is organic and synthetic, what we see and what we think we see. This is the space where things mimic, reflect and simultaneously polarize. In this place you make choices: do you question your perception or your environment?”
BIO
Mary A. Johnson’s work has been exhibited globally at the New York Hall of Science, the Nekrasov Library in Moscow, and the Shangshang Art Museum in Beijing and has been in group exhibitions juried by Jerry Saltz and Garth Johnson. She is included in Rebeka Elezegi’s book Collage by Women: 50 Essential Contemporary Artists.
She earned her MFA in Studio Art and Visual Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her BA in Fine Art, focused in Painting, from Gordon College.
She is based in Beijing, and teaches at the Central Academy of Fine Arts while serving as Head of Studio for the International Foundations Department.
ARTIST CONTACT
[click to email]
www.maryajohnson.com
IMAGES
Detail of Seep In / Seep Out / Object / Image
dimensions variable: 18’x11.5’x10′ (at largest); purple cabbage dye, bloodwood dye, turmeric dye, madder dye, dragon fruit dye, matcha, indigo, inkjet prints on rice paper, metallic and rice papers on paper, cadmium pigment, acrylic medium, organza, faux fur, inkjet prints on vinyl, and plastic; 2018
Mouths Wide Open
43.4″x31.5″x2.8″ (at largest); matcha, bloodwood dye, indigo, emperor rice dye, inkjet prints on rice paper, aluminum shavings and acrylic medium on multiple papers; 2018
Dark Arrangement
28″x27.6″; indigo, emperor rice dye, matcha, purple cabbage dye, dragon fruit dye, handmade paper with dragon fruit and matcha, cadmium pigment, acrylic medium, inkjet prints, colored pencil and and ink on paper; 2018
Eyes and Roots
61.8″x59″x1.6″ (at largest); dragon fruit dye, handmade paper with dragon fruit, turmeric dye, red madder dye, emperor rice dye, inkjet prints on rice paper, Mylar, ink and colored pencil on paper; 2018
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