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A.C. Johnson
A.C. Johnson (born October 2, 1954) is an American artist, proponent of abstract expressionism and a genre dubbed ‘Contemporary American Experimentalist Art’ (or CAEA). Known for his unusually expansive and divergent use of mediums, and penchant for experimentation, he has gained a reputation by breaking the ice with his unique style and techniques of abstraction.

Johnson’s paintings, at times reminiscent of the works of American painters of the 40’s and 50’s, including Pollock and Rothko, are fresh and original, arguably advancing the form without mimicking the past Masters. Complimentary to this retrospective influence, his digital renderings are firmly rooted in the 21st century.

Early Life

Born 1954, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, one of the many steel towns of that sprang up around Pittsburgh, Johnson grew up in a culturally rich and diverse part of the country. A frequent, and mainly uninvited guest, of the many Slovakian, Croatian, Italian, and German picnics that dominated the summers, his appreciation for what Johnson calls ‘the sameness of our differences’ runs deep. Of Swedish and English descent, with one Great-grandfather a soldier in Britain’s renowned Coldstream Guard, the other a stone mason of reportedly extraordinary strength and skill, Johnson’s roots were planted deep in the no-nonsense, hardworking, and proud middle class neighborhoods of those who made the steel that built America. His father, A.C. Johnson, Sr., and mother Vera Jean Johnson instilled a strong sense of hard work and craftsmanship in him, and his younger brother Eric. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., Johnson spent five years in the Army, followed by a career as an engineer, inventor, author, and artist. After nearly 25 years of laying down lines on paper with the requisite precision of the mechanical designer, Johnson began experimenting with the more free flowing lines and forms of the abstract. At that moment he discovered both the source and outlet for a lifetime of expression.

Artistic Influences

Johnson is largely influenced by nature, Native American Art and culture, and by the American expressionist painters of the 1940s and 50s.

“ I’m of the opinion that there are certain characteristics of nature, in the design of things, that are intrinsically pleasing to the human eye, mind, and heart. The challenge and opportunity being to discern those elements or patterns of design, and replicate them, whatever the medium. This is a thing that I have done for years as an engineer and designer. For example, if a designer is intent to build a structure that is both strong and efficient, he would be wise to look to the honeycomb for his path forward. If a mechanical joint and lever is his task at hand, then he or she might indeed pay close attention to the study of the arm that moves the hand. The examples of this sort of thing are as endless as creation itself. I believe art is no different in this regard. The beauty of creation is often replicated in its aggregate or complete form; that being the method of the realist or impressionist. These are styles more illustrative and, in my opinion, require a high level of relationship between the artist and the reflected vision, seen or remembered. Expressionism is but another method of reflecting nature’s beauty, by expressing the internal components that make up the whole. The movement of paint, cement, asphalt, wood, metal, or anything else in a way that expresses that which is inside of us. It is a style that, in my opinion, requires a higher level of relationship between the artist and the medium.”

“ I’m influenced by Jackson Pollock, as is evident from some of my pieces. For years, and before I ever attempted the drip style of painting myself, I studied his work in an attempt to understand the beauty of his compositions. I believed it to be more than haphazard. One spring evening, just before sunset, I was sitting under my favorite shade tree with my favorite bourbon, when looking up through the tree, I noticed for the first time the pattern and spacing between the leaves. If you think about it, only the most careful and efficient layout of branches and leaves would insure that the lower leaves receive sufficient sunlight. It is my belief that Pollock’s work reflects this same ratio and pattern of light and darkness, and that this is largely why it is beautiful to the eye, mind, and heart. I believe this kind of ‘truth of creation’ is within us, and looking for an avenue of expression and enjoyment.”

“ The American Indian culture has, I believe, a good understanding of, and appreciation for, a man or woman finding their ‘right trail’ in life. Most never find it. I feel privileged to have found mine, even if latter in life. Perhaps now, with more of life’s trail behind me than ahead, I carry something worth expression.”

Career

Schooled in the arts of mechanical design and rendering (computer graphics), seeing and drawing the internal relationship of things in various perspectives has been an important part of Johnson’s life for over 25 years. Volumes of his notebooks are filled with sketches and drawings, most of which have been transformed by skilled machinists, welders, and other craftsmen into machines and devices that operate around the world.

“I have always been intrigued by the way things fit and work together, particularly in trying to discern the most simple design for the purpose. I’ve believe that there is genius in elegant simplicity”

Few in the art word were immediately convinced of the nexus between years of mechanical drawing and expressionistic abstraction. That is, until they see his work. And it is likely that none but friends and family would have seen his work at all, if it wasn’t for the inspiration of his wife Holly, who suggested that he consider selling some of the pieces that were beginning to crowd the Johnson home.

“I was a bit lucky with my first request for a meeting with a gallery. Expecting a lot of rejection, I decided to start with one of the largest galleries in the area. My thinking was that if I was going to get turned down, it might as well be by one of the best. But, as it turned out, I got a bit lucky with my first call. Although the conversation was initially following the typical ‘maybe you should give us a call in a few years and we’ll consider looking at your work then’ tract, I apparently peeked the gallery manager’s interest when I answered her question about mediums by explaining that I worked in enamels, oils, lacquers, stains, varnishes, plasters, cement, and asphalt. I guess I was the kind of off the wall artist, you just had to meet in person, and I got the meeting, and my first solo gallery exhibition.”

Having been granted an extraordinary opportunity for the then unknown artist, his first public exhibition, ‘Hot Ice and Other Abstractions’ was a 36 painting solo showing at the prestigious Mulberry Art Studios in the thriving art center of Lancaster, Pa. Thus, his new career was jump-started in high gear, and is accelerating quickly. Known for an ability to work on very little sleep each night, with cat-naps in his studio, Johnson’s body of work grows nearly exponentially in both style and volume.

“I’ve got a lot of time to make up,” he’ll tell you with a grin; his hands covered in the paint and plaster or asphalt from a day’s work.

His endless experimentation most recently includes the use of plasters, asphalt, and commercial adhesives in conjunction with paints and powdered pigments. The resulting ‘groove’ paintings and ‘flat sculptures’ offer a depth of field and texture, and a contrast of darkness and color that are striking.

Philosophy of Art

It’s sometime difficult to draw a distinction between Johnson’s philosophy of art and his poetry, essays, and books.

“ I’m of the opinion that life is a series of blank pages or canvases that stretch out ahead of us. God gives us everything we need to fill them, but it’s up to us how we do that. Only fear can keep us from making each our own.”

This idea of overcoming fear seems to dominate Johnson’s work. As if the boldness of each stroke or splatter is a tilt at something deep within. In point of fact, one of the most telling statements in his first published book, ‘My Prayers for My Children’, explains, ‘When I look back on the things in my life that I wished I had done, and didn't, and things I wish I had not, and did, I can chalk them up to fear….’

The tough exterior of the former Army Ranger easily reveals a softer side which he exposes in his poems, perhaps one of which is most revealing. ‘The Christmas Tree’ is from his first poetry anthology, ‘Of Crabapples and Plastic Fruit’.

The Christmas Tree – A.C. Johnson

It was winter, and the hard frozen ground captured the thinly falling snowflakes intact, adding one to another, until they held captive footprints along the rough winding road ahead, one adding to another until they captured a journey.

Two sets, where no other had yet disturbed the Christmas eve wrapping of glittering whiteness, that soon covered the otherwise bleak countryside, camouflaging all but the most recent craters that scared the disputed ground.

Side by side, holding closely, stride for stride. One set evidenced a shuffling, more or less, and where crisp outlines could be discerned, a mismatched pair of shoes, one wider than the next, and one missing a heel. The other set, so much smaller, the waffle prints of tiny sneakers meant for a warmer season, writing their short history in the snow with a buoyant, bouncy refrain.

As he caught up with the pair, mystery gave way to reality, and a soldier’s melancholy to joy for a moment, and then to sorrow. Indelibly imprinted on his memory, deep enough to last a lifetime, he will forever see that old bent over grandfather walking beside his tiny grandson, a miserably small and sparse tree, though hardly a tree at all, tied with rough twine to the elder’s back.

A smile on the old man’s face matched the near luminous joy of the young child, but gave way to pain as he was forced to the siding by the passing convoy. Three pairs of eyes met, locked for an instant, then quickly looked down, perhaps each ashamed, and each with their reason. And in that moment, all that the season should hold, and all that it should never hold, met on that rough winding road.

"Not every art style and work of art is for every person, of course; rather it is a matter of taste and personal preference. Some enjoy most, the warm shimmering light of a cottage as the sun retreats in the sky.  Others are more drawn to a stark harshness, reflected in the darkest corners of our sometimes troubled minds.  My work flows from neither of these perspectives exclusively, but from both.  Light, and darkness.  Wealth and squalor.  Joy and pain.  Compassion and complacency.  When I can get it right, my work is a reminder of what is beautiful in this world, and what is yet to be made beautiful.  It is a tribute to that which is the best in us, and a challenge to be better. This is the nature of my work, and what spurs my expression. It is those who share my vision; to whom my work speaks most clearly, that I hope to reach.”