|
CATHERINE L. JOHNSON SIXTEEN WORKS 1997-2011 www.mnartists.org/Catherine_L._Johnson
Please note: my work is an experience and needs an actual encounter for its breadth of truth. It is likened to viewing a photograph of a lover in contrast to reveling in the actual presence of a lover. My works are a sound and a performance. My work unfolds in time, light and in dialogue with the viewer. The viewer is not a passive spectator, but a participant- a dancer. My works are meditations and invocations, songs and choruses and expressions of glory and grace. Improvisational. A dive into prayer. I am a writer and my writings perform with my visual work- a pas de deux.
1.) Johnson_Catherine_01.jpg Breath 1997 48"H x 34"W x 2"D mixed media/canvas on board
My art is about breath and breathing. Breath as a prayer. I have witnessed the first inhalation- the breath of new life; the full sweeping breath of love and joy; the heavy, choking breath of grief; and the final exhalation, the last breath of life. The presentation and installation of the work is aware of the viewer's body- the solar plexus and the sensate of full lungs, raising the body upward and the release of the exhalation. The iridescent pearly-gold paint is strewn and skeins across the morning yellow background of the painting. The rising wings, the breath hover as radiant light- and, in the next moment, when the viewer moves and the light shifts, the radiance of the gold is swallowed and becomes a shadow upon a gleaming sea of morning yellow. A halcyon.
(Private collections in the U.S.)
2.) Johnson_Catherine_02.jpg Pure River 1999 14"H x 12"W x 2"D mixed media/canvas on board
Midnight blue water swallowing moon light. An icon of an epiphany when one beholds the melding of two disparate elements into a single gasping moment. The painting is layers of luxuriant veils of hues rising and falling. The painting opens and closes its luminosity depending on the light and the position of the viewer.
(Private collections in the U.S.)
3.) Johnson_Catherine_03.jpg Pine Tree: HOPE 2005 36"H x 28"W x 2"D mixed media on board
The Pine Tree series began in 1998 in a time of enormous grief. A single line was drawn down the center of the paper-an axis connecting heaven to earth. Sweeping lines were drawn back and forth, a meditation of breath and heartbeat. A pine tree emerged. I learned that pine trees are universal symbols of the life force, prevailing no matter the tempest The Pine Tree: HOPE 2005 series is a sweep of layers of cinnabar red, earthen black, gold glazes with a fragile pencil line down the center. The painting alternates from a stunning ancient red to an aura of emanating gold- depending on the light conditions and the position of the viewer. Please note how the image is not contained and that it expands over the physical
borders of the painting. Pine Tree: HOPE 2005 was created as an immediate response to Hurricane Katrina: an invocation of hope in a time of deafening despair.
(Commissioned for the Center for International Health, Fairview Southdale Hospital and in private collections in the U.S. and Europe)
4.) Johnson_Catherine_04.jpg The Chandelier Drawings # 4 2006 25"H x 19.5"W mixed media on paper
The Chandelier Drawings are a portfolio of the immateriality of weight and light. Resonating with the heart, spine and pelvis, fleur-de-lis, etc. Elegance. Enchantment. Romantic epiphanies. Simple. Whispers. Arouse.
(Private collections in the U.S.)
5.) Johnson_Catherine_05.jpg BREAK: OPEN (TRIPTYCH) 2009 15.25"H x 34.5"W x 1.75"D mixed media on board
The BREAK: OPEN series was performed on paper and board and exist as sets or single works. Primal elegance: breathing. Love is an infinite transformative energy that will break open, soften and heal hearts of fear and stone by its sound, frequency, vibration and rhythm. Revolutionary grace. Love is light and gently calls out what hides and is hidden with its deeply faithful song. Love awakens. Love is courage to reveal the most innermost truth. Truth heals. Breath by breath by breath....
6, 7 and 8.)
Johnson_Catherine_06.jpg PRIVATE RHYTHM: BEAUTY IS DIVINE IS BEAUTY 2009 40"H x 26"W mixed media on paper
Johnson_Catherine_07.jpg PRIVATE RHYTHM: MOVING GRACE 2009 40"H x 26"W mixed media on paper
Johnson_Catherine_07.jpg PRIVATE RHYTHM: BEAUTIFUL FORTITUDE 2009 40"H x 26"W mixed media on paper
The PRIVATE RHYTHM series echo with Paleolithic cave paintings found within mountains and medieval art works found within cathedrals and electronic beats. Urgent rhythmic songs that resound with the elixir of desire, wonder, awe and profound moments of discovering love- touching what could not be touched, can only be privately known and is the universally beautiful song of humanity. Internal alchemy. Blueprints, maps, scores. The work is a spiritual; a gospel sung as an impassioned symphony- an opera and a synth pop/alternative dance. The infinity symbol and the figure 8 is the visual rhythmic beatbeatbeat heart beat. I listened and followed as this visual whisper turned to soft, swinging sounds and continued to emerge with clarion. The infinity symbol signifies eternity- inhale exhale :: exhale inhale. In my later research:
in Tantra the number 8 of the 10 heavenly bodies is prana and refers to divine energy and breath.
9.) Johnson_Catherine_09.jpg SPARROW: FLY MY HEART FREE 2010 13"H x 10"W mixed media on board
The SPARROW series came to life in response to the fragility, the sirens, the uncertainty and the cherished revelations of life: the suddenness of choking despair in tragedy to the suddenness of passion, joy and
lull when simply hearing the living voice of the beloved. I cannot shield myself from life- its ashen despairs nor its sweet lullabies, its hell nor its heavens for it is life. Fear and/or the desire to love in all colors and sound. I believe the odyssey is to be touched, marked by listening to and continually moving toward and within love- wounds are healed by love's energy, truth and touch. Trust. The earthquake that shattered Haiti was in a sudden moment. Compassion sang in as a song and an action. The recognition of a deep soul connection occurs in a moment- it is the epiphany of love in the morning star of light and the sight of the evening star within the darkest night. I believe loving another is the vesper, the revolutionary action of turning hell to earth to heaven. Compassion
and love are not words; they are expressions of existence, action and occurrence. It is all there waiting in anticipation to be opened, set free. The heart is a muscle, a sweet land, a strange land of revelations. Stepping up into the rhythm and cry of life is the dance, the hymn, the weave, the blues, the laughter, the wail, the morning, the night, the water and the music of the odyssey. I believe the continuous gentle shower of compassion and tenderness, listening with awe and kindness astounds fear so love can be released, rise and breathe wide and deep. Where there has been neglect and scars the heart has thorns, whisper a gentle garden. Love can be an implosion, an internal earthquake...Touch. (The jazz vocalist Rene Marie created the above text into an improvisational song with her band at the Dakota Jazz Club on 5 September 2010.)
(Private collections in the U.S.)
10.) Johnson_Catherine_10.jpg NEST: FOR YOU THERE IS MORE 2010 17" H x 13”W mixed media on board
The cycle of the NEST works ascended in the winter and spring of 2010 and is composed of eighteen works - each measuring 17" H x 13" W. We never know the stories that people live within, until you love them and softly shine love's pure glow toward their heart....slowly, gently as a whisper. In time, as when winter yields to spring, they may let you see them in moments of emotional and honest disclosure when they release the stories of their lives. The faithful stories we tell one another is the sound, the music, the garden, the vast blue sky, the rain, the flight, the candle touch- the quiet, fragrant gardenia bloom. The stories may be told as a silence, a pause, a furtive smile, a sigh, a hand's caress, a sudden kiss... what is heard,
seen, touched and tasted may reveal and then cloak. Perhaps, you can see them before they see themselves. Perhaps, they can see you before you see you. Alternating, improvisational with breath as the rhythm, tenderness as the beacon and the offer of a nest as the welcome home. The conversation of the senses: the giving and receiving is the passionate mad heaven of raw darkness and light elegance. Both are true and necessary for the life of love's arc. Telling the truth deeply- spare and baroque to, for and with another. Not knowing what may open or close, and knowing nothing and knowing everything in each moment of telling the truth. Mystery. Trust. Patience. Freedom. Release. Devotion. Love. Gift.
(The NEST: FOR YOU THERE IS MORE work was selected to accompany a national prize winning poem on Alzheimer’s- the poem and image was an on-line publication.)
11.) Johnson_Catherine_11.jpg NEST: FOR YOU TRUTH IS MY WING FOR ME 2010 17" H x 13”W mixed media on board (Please note the description above)
12.) Johnson_Catherine_12.jpg YOUR VOICE IS MY LULLABY AND LOTUS BLOOM 2010 28" H x 22" W mixed media on board
The cycle of the LOTUS 20TEN works ascended in the summer of 2010 and is composed of sixteen works - each measuring 28" H x 22" W. Each work is a visual SensUal/SensUous song between the five senses, poetic lyric texts to love and the image of lotus blooms. After the lotus image appeared in my work, I learned the lotus is an ancient Buddhist symbol of spiritual awakening: The lotus pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment
13.) Johnson_Catherine_13.jpg RISING I BELIEVE IN YOU YOU ARE NOT FALLING YOU ARE RISING YOU ARE RISING RISING RISING 2010 35" H x 23" W mixed media on paper
The I BELIEVE IN YOU series are proclamations, gospels, spirituals which emerged as complete poems and prayers to the Divine- the sacred energy that resides in every heart. Each work is a whisper, an invocation of faith. Calling out to the most deep, sacred and hidden secrets of the heart: quietly, softly, tenderly when the heart is vulnerable, open and strong. The original paintings are hand drawn lines of graphite and ultramarine blue, fragile and, at times, imperceptible, skating on clear fields and floating within veils of soft white with collaged elements. (RISING I BELIEVE IN YOU YOU ARE NOT FALLING YOU ARE RISING YOU ARE RISING RISING RISING
is a permanent installation at Fairview Southdale Hospital, Minneapolis. and is presented within the Intensive Care Unit's Family Waiting Room and outside the entrance of the hospital's Meditation Sanctuary.)
14.) Johnson_Catherine_14.jpg BLACKBIRD: WING 20TEN 2010 40" H x 24" W mixed media on board
The BLACKBIRD:WING 20TEN series is a cycle of nine works. My work encompasses and coalescing spirituality, sexuality and vulnerability. Images emerge from the sea of my imagination. Music is my siren’s call- calls up cloaked images, phrases and sounds. I search for the seductive, the sensuous and the sweet song that has the most resonance with the nascent image, turn of word and sound. Communication is good music- difficult to compose and play- and lovely to hear. Intimate communication is beautiful, mysterious music guided by the courage of revealing one’s heart and unveiling one’s soul to another, Back and forth, Balance and breaking open. Listen and listening. Day and night/Night and day.
15.) Johnson_Catherine_15.jpg Pine Tree: Moon RAPTURES 2010 7.5" H x 5.5" W mixed media on board
The Pine Tree: Moon RAPTURES are a cycle of 12 works. They are beautiful, wild poems within a winter day, promising snow. They are my re-writing, my re-titling, and my re-life from re-cent, re-velations.
( Private collections in the U.S.)
16.) Johnson_Catherine_16.jpg I WISH I KNEW 2011 14" H x 10" W mixed media on board
The I WISH I KNEW is a cycle of six original works inspired by the lyrics of Dr. Billy Taylor. Layers of color and incised line with white paint passed onto the surface with a squeegee and then washed off and repeat and swept once again and again- until the surface becomes like looking deeply into an atmospheric night sky- or a blackboard that had years of writing that was wiped away after each story, fact, equation, etc, was told - like layers of experience written on a heart- almost imperceptible yet still sounds if you listen with wonder.
|
Catherine Johnson
