30″x30″; custom photography, found objects, acrylic, graphite, spray paint, crayon, paper, cardboard, and household on panel. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
David Edward Johnson: No Roses in December
at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, USA
27 January-31 March 2024
Based in Skaneateles, New York, David Edward Johnson creates mixed media assemblages that address belief systems, the birth and death of the American Dream, and the effects of loss at a personal level. “No Roses in December” features a series of works in which Johnson explores his father’s diagnosis of and descent into dementia. Johnson pairs his own photographs of bleak West Texas vistas and abandoned adobe dwellings with abstract mixed media painting, vintage papers, found objects, and other ephemera as a way to evoke fragmented shards of memory that mimic his father’s state of mind. The series title references a poem by Geoffrey Anketell Studdert-Kennedy that was popularized in a speech about courage by Peter Pan author JM Barrie: “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” Without memories, we have no blooms in the chill of the December of life.
30″x30″; custom photography, found objects, acrylic, graphite, spray paint, crayon, paper, cardboard, and household on panel. Courtesy of the artist.
“David Edward Johnson: No Roses in December” is part of the Everson CNY Artist Initiative, an exhibition program that celebrates the multi-faceted talents of regional artists. The CNY Artist Initiative is made possible with support from Terry and Bill Delavan.
(text adapted from material provided by the museum)
INFORMATION
Everson Museum of Art
401 Harrison Street
Syracuse, New York 13202 USA
(315) 474-6064
Hours through 31 March 2024:
Wednesday, 11AM-4PM
Thursday, 11AM-8PM
Friday, 11AM-4PM
Saturday, 10AM-5PM
Sunday, 11AM-4PM