Art Scene Los Angeles Review of 2008 Mitchell Johnson exhibit at Terrence Rogers Fine Art

 

"Bornholm," 2008 40x70 inches oil/canvas

It is hard to pull off an Elmer Bischoff sort of look these days without appearing quaint, but Mitchell Johnson manages this. He did not in fact study in the Bay Area but at places like Parsons, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, yet the artist is apparently connected enough to the rolling hills of what could be New England that he convincingly presents bird's eye views of the countryside, of farms and wood houses constructed of puzzle pieces of color (one senses an appreciation of Cezanne in Truro). In fact, this is a departure or a tangent for an artist who normally creates abstract work built up of geometric color. What makes this series interesting is the way in which images lace together a brushy, poetic kind of geometry in paint that does not settle in the eye for depictions of nature. Quick, sharp lines and cubes fix farm houses and structures firmly in time. The result is something authentic and felt (especially Bornholm). It does not look like forced or corny gestural realism; there is structure enough that you trust this vision comes from disciplined looking, thought and training (Terence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica). 

-ART Scene LA, March, 2008

Request a digital catalog of available paintings by emailing: mitchell.catalog@gmail.com

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.

-Susan Emerling

Truro Painting by Mitchell Johnson in March 2008 Art in America

 

Mitchell Johnson exhibit, Here and Now, at Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA March - April, 2008.  The exhibit catalog is still available here.

Artnews June 2004 Review of Mitchell Johnson exhibit at Terrence Rogers Fine Art

 

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.

-Susan Emerling