Chris Busa interviews Mitchell Johnson on WOMR's Art Talk Program

 Links to the WOMR interview:

Part One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJZh8yX2_dc

Part Two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyjtoD1jX8A

Not Goethe Triangle

I was looking through my copy of Josef Albers’ complete, Interaction of Color in 2011 getting ready to speak to some kids about color theory. I don’t know how many people have noticed that the Goethe Triangle (one example from internet above) appears in some of the small paperback editions of Interaction of Color but not all of them. The triangle is one of the silkscreens in the reissued version of the complete original. Per Albers' request, the now famous silk screen was prepared by Rackstraw Downes and another Yale student for the original, handmade Interaction of Color, published by Yale in 1963. Albers first saw the triangle in a small german book on color theory written by Carry van Biema. There are notes at the Albers Foundation that document Albers' search for Biema’s book as he was preparing the final copy of Interaction of Color. Curiously, it turns out that Biema "made up" the Goethe triangle and if I remember correctly how the late Fred Horowitz explained this to me, Albers knew about the mistake before he died, but only well after his book had legitimized Biema’s creation and furthered awareness of the "triangle". I only bring this up because the triangle is all over the internet and in college art classrooms – even at Brown University, gaining momentum still. 
I didn't create this post to simply set the record straight. The best part of this little tale is that if the "Goethe triangle" helps people learn, then it doesn’t really matter who created the first version and I think Albers would agree that its legitimacy is irrelevant. The error somehow drives home Albers' own point about how complex and problematic it is to teach color theory; how personal the experience of color can be for anyone who takes its study seriously. Albers was a big advocate of practice and experience before theory. This was in opposition to Itten who was determined to develop a science for establishing a color course,  “facts” and theory as a prerequisite to the playful hands-on learning. (You can observe Itten's stance by noting the flow of the layout of "The Art of Colour.") The triangle, legitimate or not, begs to be reproduced by hand which invites a conversation about whether colors really mix and behave as described by theory or "fact". (you'll have to decide the answer for yourself.) Some people might be surprised to learn that for all of those fellow artists Albers embraced: Klee, Monet, Cezanne, Kandinsky, Goethe, Albers was not supportive of either Itten or Hans Hofmann.

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.

Cape Arts Review of Mitchell Johnson exhibit at Munson Gallery Chatham 2007

 

Mitchell Johnson

“New Paintings From Cape Cod and Europe”

Munson Gallery, Chatham, MA July 27-August 15, 2007

For more than 20 years, Mitchell Johnson has simultaneously explored the expressive potential of abstract and figurative paintings. Well known as a landscape painter, he has recently begun exhibiting large abstract paintings that reveal a new and distilled approach to color and shape.

Mitchell Johnson was born in 1964 in South Carolina, but grew up in New York and Virginia. He studied painting and drawing at Randolph-Macon College, the Washington Studio School, and Parsons School of Design, where he earned an MFA in 1990. He was strongly influenced by his New York teachers: Paul Resika, Leland Bell, Larry Rivers, Nell Blaine and Robert DeNiro, Sr., all former students of Hans Hofmann. Since 1990 Johnson has divided his time between his studio in Palo Alto, California and his favorite painting locations in Italy, France and Bornholm, Denmark.

Johnson enjoys traveling to find challenging compositions that speak to his interest in both the development of the painting and a visceral response to particular patterns and situations. “I never look for beautiful vistas or quintessential moments, I stop when a view or a series of colors and shapes grabs me. The views that draw me in usually speak to clarity and mystery, accessibility and elusiveness.” He believes that a representational painter should heed the lessons of abstraction and be receptive to the painting’s own will.

For this show in Chatham, Johnson says, “I’m still working on a number of pieces that were started during my last trip to the Cape last year. Most of the paintings in the exhibition will have a formal emphasis in color and shape.” In addition to paintings from Truro and Chatham, he will be including paintings from Scandinavia, France, Italy and Germany.

Says Johnson, “My work is still going back and forth between abstraction and representation, as it has for many years.” In fact, a new book about Johnson’s work has recently been published-entitled “Doppio Binario,” meaning double track or parallel pursuit, the book is by Marilena Pasquali, with additional essays by Donia Bijan, Peter Campion, W.S. DiPiero, Annette Luciani and Claude Pichevin. Movie buffs will be interested to know that one of Johnson’s paintings can be seen in the first scene of the movie “The Holiday,” starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslett, Jude Law and Jack Black.

-Gillian Drake Cape Arts Review 2007

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

Bonnie Gangelhoff article on Mitchell Johnson from Southwest Art Magazine Feb 2003

 AN ARTIST FOR ALL SEASONS

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.

Read complete article here:

Mitchell Johnson "Cerrillos Cloud IV, 1993" is acquired by New Mexico Museum of Art

 Mitchell Johnson "Cerrillos Cloud IV,"1993 is in the collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art.