Tomory Dodge curated the on-line exhibit "From Morning Til Night, We Should Never Rely on a Single Thing" at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles. See the exhibit here.
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Mitchell Johnson painting, Sinalunga, on page 74 of December, 2021 WSJ Magazine
Mitchell Johnson's Italian painting, Sinalunga, on page 74 of the December 2021 WSJ Magazine.
Request a digital catalog of available paintings by emailing: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Mitchell Johnson Water Tower painting on page 64 of December 2021 Artforum Magazine
"Green Water Tower (Jenga)," 2020 by Mitchell Johnson on page 64 of the December 2021 Artforum Magazine.
Request a digital catalog of available paintings by emailing: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Four Mitchell Johnson Paintings in the December 5, 2021 New York Times Magazine
Four Mitchell Johnson paintings, "Paris (Green)" on page 19 of the December 5, 2021 New York Times Magazine.
Request a digital catalog of available work by emailing:
mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Follow on instagram: mitchell_johnson_artist
Read a recent interview at, Painting Perceptions, or listen to an interview on the podcast, I Like Your Work.
See complete bibliography at www.mitchelljohnson.com.
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Mitchell Johnson painting "Paris (Green)" in November 21, 2021 New York Times Magazine
The Mitchell Johnson painting, "Paris (Green)" on the inside backcover of the November 21, 2021 New York Times Magazine.
This painting is sold. Request a digital catalog of available work by emailing:
mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Follow on instagram: mitchell_johnson_artist
Read a recent interview at, Painting Perceptions, or listen to an interview on the podcast, I Like Your Work.
Mitchell Johnson Sinalunga Painting in November 14, 2021 New York Times Magazine
This paintings is sold. Request a digital catalog of available work by emailing:
mitchell.catalog@gmail
Follow on instagram: mitchell_johnson_artist
Read a recent interview at, Painting Perceptions, or listen to an interview on the podcast, I Like Your Work.
Two Mitchell Johnson paintings on the backcover of the March 8, 2021 New Yorker Magazine
Both of these paintings are sold. Request a digital catalog of available work by emailing:
mitchell.catalog@gmail
Follow on instagram: mitchell_johnson_artist
Read a recent interview at, Painting Perceptions, or listen to an interview on the podcast, I Like Your Work.
Two Mitchell Johnson paintings on back cover of July 5, 2021 New Yorker Magazine
Both of these paintings are sold. Request a digital catalog of available work by emailing:
mitchell.catalog@gmail
Follow on instagram: mitchell_johnson_artist
Read a recent interview at, Painting Perceptions, or listen to an interview on the podcast, I Like Your Work.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Repost of Bonnnie Gangelhoff's 2003 article on Mitchell Johnson
This is a 2003 article and cover story from Southwest Art Magazine. The original magazine is available here
Painter Mitchell Johnson is inspired by California and New Mexico landscapes | By Bonnie Gangelhoff
IN 1990 MITCHELL JOHNSON TRAVELED CROSS-COUNTRY FROM NEW York to California to begin working as a studio assistant for artist Sam Francis. Johnson had just received his master`s degree from New York`s Parsons School of Design and was keen on a West Coast adventure. "I didn`t really expect to stay in California, but the practical aspects of being able to paint outside all year really started to appeal to me," Johnson says from his home in Menlo Park.
In addition, the dramatic West Coast landscape engaged him in a way that the East Coast`s natural wonders had not, he says. The powerful shoreline, the rocky coast, and the soft hills leading down to the Pacific Ocean inspired and challenged his artistic eye. Today Johnson, 38, has become known for his colorful and panoramic renderings of the Golden State, including bucolic scenes not far from his home, such as the farms of fertile Central California and the vineyards that dot the picturesque Northern California wine country.
This month the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, CA, is honoring the painter with a oneman exhibition of his works as part of its continuing series, New Works by California Artists. The exhibit opened in January and runs through March 9. It features Johnson`s rural landscapes, which capture the light and atmosphere of the terrain in California as well as in Italy. The show also displays a sampling of Johnson`s figurative paintings, which are reminiscent of those of David Park [1911-- 1960], the well-known Bay Area painter.
In addition to being included in more than 200 private collections, Johnson`s works are in the permanent collections of a number of museums, such as the Oakland Museum Art Foundation, the Laguna Art Museum, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, NM.
Although he lives in California, Johnson has developed a habit over the past decade of beating a path to different painting haunts, depending on the season: fall in New Mexico and summer in Italy and France. He packs two gigantic duffel bags with portable painting gear and throws in a few clothes to see him through the journeys. The expeditions are akin to safaris, he says, because he is totally selfsufficient. Johnson used to stay a few months at a time on his art "safaris," but that was before he had a family. Now the trips are more likely to last two weeks.
When he returns home to California with his canvases in tow, they reflect his fascination not only with the subject matter itself but also with the order of things inherent in the ever-- changing landscape. It`s been said of Johnson that he is like a farmer who pays close attention to the fields and weather as they change with the seasons. "It`s really wonderful that my job keeps me so in touch with the seasons," he says.
In his wife, Donia, he has found a soul mate who shares this passion, albeit in a totally different way. She owns a popular restaurant, L`amie Donia, a French bistro in Palo Alto known for its flair for incorporating seasonal vegetables and fruits, such as beets, fennel, peaches, almonds, and leeks. The bistro regularly showcases Johnson`s artwork on its walls-- works that depict the lush farmland where such produce is grown. For example, in Johnson`s SAN GREGORIO (PUMPKINS), orange flecks depicting the bulbous vegetable speckle a California landscape.
Each place-California, New Mexico, and Italy-appeals to him for different reasons, he says. "For example, New Mexico hits you upside the head," Johnson explains. "There`s a strong flavor-the way reds and earth colors look with the shapes of the small hills peppered with pinon trees [as in MUST BE RIO CHIQUITO]. It`s like being on a moonscape, it`s so different than other places."
MUST BE RIO CHIQUITO is also a good example of Johnson`s effort to achieve a balance between solidity and disintegration. He gives the viewer a sense of nature as a solid entity yet employs the paint to create a loose rendering of the lush scene. At the same time he manages to convey the expansive feeling of space that is unique to the Southwest.
Johnson is primarily a colorist-rather than sketching preliminary drawings, he applies paint directly to the canvas to create the shapes he desires. In each painting he tries to let the work gradually lead him to the right composition.
He paints both on location and in the studio-that is, in the back yard of his home, where he makes use of the Northern California sunlight. Must BE RIO CHIQUITO is an example of an onlocation landscape painting; it was completed in northern New Mexico on a recent art safari. To create the 40-by-70-inch work, Johnson says he jerry-rigged the canvas to his pickup truck`s tailgate using bungee cords. Whether he is painting on location or in his "studio," the natural quality he evokes is the result of many outdoor hours viewing colors and patterns. "My compositions are hard won," he says.
For Johnson, the benefits of painting outdoors are many. As he wrote in a catalog published by I. Wolk Galleries in St. Helena, CA, in 2000, "There is a certain anxiety always present when I work on location. I begin expecting something from the painting, and yet I almost always surrender that initial excitement," Johnson says. "Once I`ve surrendered there is a greater intimacy, and the painting follows the lead of the place. The place begins to reveal itself. It`s a magical moment-it`s where the painting becomes more than an illustration or just a report of weather or light."
When asked about his goals for the future, Johnson replies, "Right now I am in the middle of what I want to be doing when I`m 80 years old." His model for the artist`s life well-lived is Terry St. John, the prominent Bay Area painter who is a central figure in the revival of outdoor painting in Northern California. "The more I see his work, the more I respect him. He is a great example of someone who built his life around painting and continues to grow and to challenge himself instead of resting on his laurels," Johnson says. "He doesn`t produce the same painting over and over again. He understands that art is about the work and not repeating yourself. And I couldn`t agree more."
Landscape Painting
According to Johnson
Whether I develop a painting on location or in the studio, I always try to hold onto the initial excitement that began it and to let that excitement become a physical com-ponent of the work. One painting may have a light surface where others will get thicker as the com-position demands it Some of the paintings are about large shapes, others are about the problem of detail.
The landscape and beach are my motifs, but perhaps painting is my subject A friend of mine once said that we are painters who look like we are painting on the outside when we are actually painting on the inside." I try to let each painting lead me as it is being arranged and resolved. I resist anticipating its conclusion. The compositions I get involved with, as diverse as they are, all share an instinctive attempt to grow-to better understand color, to become a more interesting painter, to make paintings which are challenging yet accessible.
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Nov 13, 2021 WSJ Magazine Innovators Issue Page 52
Two Mitchell Johnson paintings appear in the WSJ Magazine November, 2021 Innovators issue which has multiple covers.
Request a catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog@gmail
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Mitchell Johnson Paintings on Page 35 of December 2021 Architectural Digest
Two Mitchell Johnson paintings, "Cape Porpoise," 2021 and "North Truro (Bernard)," 2021 24x36 inches oil/linen appear on page 35 of the December, 2021 Architectural Digest.
Repost of Susan Emerling's 2004 Artnews Review of Mitchell Johnson at Terrence Rogers Fine Art
Contrary to the claim in the December, 2018, Nob Hill Gazette Magazine, Mitchell Johnson exhibited widely between 1990-2010 in major galleries in New York (Tatistcheff Gallery), San Francisco (Hackett Freedman & Campbell-Thiebaud), Santa Fe (Munson Gallery & Mitchell, Brown Fine Art), Denver (Robischon), Baltimore (Grimaldis Gallery) and Richmond (Reynolds Gallery).
Here is a review of a 2003 exhibit of Mitchell Johnson at Terrence Rogers Fine Art published in Artnews in 2004.
Mitchell Johnson at Terrence Rogers Fine Art
Santa Monica May, 2003
Review from Artnews Magazine June, 2004, Page 119
Mitchell Johnson’s latest oil paintings of European beach scenes are fresh and pleasing. Using large brushy strokes and bright, often improbable colors, Johnson gives dynamic form to everyday life with an Impressionistic sensibility.
In the 2003 work, Numana & Hossegor, Johnson depicts bathers heading into the sea. The surf is rendered as an abstract swath of frothy white set against a vibrant green horizon. The sand is a field of neon orange, creating a visual correlative for the feel of heat on one’s feet.
In the 2003 work, Bornholm (Yellow Raft), Johnson turns an inflated lime-green inner tube, held by a sun kissed child marching across white sand, into a geometric abstraction. The artist balances the composition with a large yellow rectangular raft held by another beach goer. Both figures cast cool blue shadows, perfectly capturing the late-afternoon light of a sunny day at the beach. In a series of smaller canvases, Johnson eliminated the figures and zeroed in on geometric patterns, such as the radiating stripes of beach umbrellas.
Also on view were eight small canvases painted on the island of Bornholm, Denmark, that picture A-frame houses in bright blocks of color against flat blue skies. The clean, crisp homes looked intimate and inviting, but the landscapes seemed timeless and empty, forlorn in a way that recalls Edward Hopper’s small-town scenes.
Four small canvases depicting Italian construction workers against globe fields of color were less about the individuals than the work being performed, and they demonstrated how Johnson’s energetic brushwork lends itself to representing movement. Overall, the exhibition revealed the sure hand of a devoted colorist able to extract visual tension from the world around him.
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Two Mitchell Johnson Paintings in WSJ Men's Fashion Issue October, 2021
Two Mitchell Johnson paintings in the Men's Fashion WSJ Magazine, October, 2021.
Thursday, September 2, 2021
Mitchell Johnson exhibit "Sixteen Years in Truro," Truro Center For the Arts at Castle Hill 2021
You can see some of the exhibit here in Artforum Spotlight.
Great article at Artscope Magazine in the September issue.
Catalog available at Amazon.
The reception is Thursday Sept 9, 2021, 4-6 pm. Gallery hours are M-F, 9-5. Weekends by appointment. Email mitchell.catalog@gmail for appointments.
Friday, August 27, 2021
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Back cover of July 25, 2021 New York Times Magazine
rrequest catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Friday, July 23, 2021
Mitchell Johnson Painting in July 11 2021 New York Times Magazine
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Mitchell Johnson paintings on back cover of July 5 2021 New Yorker Magazine
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
See more paintings at www.mitchelljohnson.com
Truro Painting Across from The Ethicist in June 20 New York Times Magazine
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
See more paintings at www.mitchelljohnson.com
Truro Painting in Summer 2021 Artforum Magazine
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
See more paintings at www.mitchelljohnson.com
"Striped Chair (Sideways)" in June WSJ Magazine
request catalog: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Read Larry Groff's new interview with Mitchell:
https://paintingperceptions.com/interview-with-mitchell-johnson/
Listen to Erika Hess's interview with Mitchell:
https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/what-does-the-painting-want-color-structure-in-the-work-of-painter-mitchell-johnson
Truro Painting on Back cover of New York Times Magazine May 30, 2021
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Read Larry Groff's new interview with Mitchell:
https://paintingperceptions.com/interview-with-mitchell-johnson/
Listen to Erika Hess's interview with Mitchell:
https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/what-does-the-painting-want-color-structure-in-the-work-of-painter-mitchell-johnson
May 28, 2021 Palo Alto Weekly cover
request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Read The Palo Alto Weekly article:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2021/05/25/the-story-of-an-artist-palo-alto-gallery-showcases-the-vivid-work-of-mitchell-johnson
Read Larry Groff's new interview with Mitchell:
https://paintingperceptions.com/interview-with-mitchell-johnson/
Listen to Erika Hess's interview with Mitchell:
https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/what-does-the-painting-want-color-structure-in-the-work-of-painter-mitchell-johnson
"Striped Chair (Sideways)" painting inside front cover of May 9, 2021 New Yorker Magazine
Request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Read The Palo Alto Weekly article:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2021/05/25/the-story-of-an-artist-palo-alto-gallery-showcases-the-vivid-work-of-mitchell-johnson
Read Larry Groff's new interview with Mitchell:
https://paintingperceptions.com/interview-with-mitchell-johnson/
Listen to Erika Hess's interview with Mitchell:
https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/what-does-the-painting-want-color-structure-in-the-work-of-painter-mitchell-johnson
Truro Painting in New York Times Magazine Across from Ethicist May 9, 2021
Request catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Read The Palo Alto Weekly article:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2021/05/25/the-story-of-an-artist-palo-alto-gallery-showcases-the-vivid-work-of-mitchell-johnson
Read Larry Groff's new interview with Mitchell:
https://paintingperceptions.com/interview-with-mitchell-johnson/
Listen to Erika Hess's interview with Mitchell:
https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/what-does-the-painting-want-color-structure-in-the-work-of-painter-mitchell-johnson
Race Point Bench Painting in WSJ Magazine May 2021
Request a catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Kennebunk Painting in May 2021 Artforum Magazine
Request a catalog of available work: mitchell.catalog @gmail
Monday, May 24, 2021
Back cover of New York Times Magazine May 16, 2021
Mitchell Johnson "Color Continuum: Selected Paintings 1988-2021" is on view at Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto, May 15-June 26, 2021. You can read a new interview with Mitchell at Painting Perceptions.
Friday, May 21, 2021
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Mitchell Johnson Painting "From 345 Stockton" in Nob Hill Gazette Magazine May 2021
Mitchell Johnson "Color Continuum: Selected Paintings 1988-2021" is on view at Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto, May 15-June 26, 2021.
Monday, March 1, 2021
ArtForum March 2021
You can see more paintings at this ArtForum Spotlight Gallery.
Request a catalog of available paintings by email: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Monday, February 15, 2021
New Yorker Magazine Double Issue inside back cover February 15, 2021
These paintings are sold.
Request an electronic catalog of available paintings: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Friday, February 12, 2021
Wall Street Journal Women's Fashion Magazine February 13, 2021, page 102
These paintings are sold.
Request an electronic catalog of available paintings: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Saturday, January 9, 2021
New York Times Magazine January 10, 2021 across from The Ethicist
These paintings are sold.
Request an electronic catalog of available paintings: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Monday, January 4, 2021
New Yorker Magazine Back Cover January 5, 2021
These paintings are sold.
Request an electronic catalog of available paintings: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)