“[Johnson’s work] investigates and reapraises the ontology in Franz Roh’s magic realism for the 21st century. It is an exercise in alchemy, an exhibitionist exhibition to expose the intricate, often grotesque beauty of an increasingly artificial world”
“Johnson’s nimble montage reduces the ability to quickly identify individual objects in the works. Negating this immediacy, the mystery of the identity of the objects draws viewers much deeper into the works, and keeps us there.”
About
b. 1986 United States
Mary Johnson makes installations, works on paper and animations that interrogate how perception narrates our experiences. She has shown her work globally including the New York Hall of Science, the Nekrasov Library in Moscow, and the Cube Art Museum in Shanghai. Nationally, her work has been shown at BOX13 (Houston), Coconino Center for the Arts (Flagstaff) and Fort Worth Arts, among others. Her work has been in group exhibitions at CICA Museum in South Korea, the Consell of Formentera in Spain, and collected by the Shanghai Art Collections Museum. Additionally, her work has been included in multiple international publications, including Rebeka Elizegi’s book Collage by Women: 50 Essential Contemporary Artists (Madrid).
Johnson is currently the Director of Foundations at the School of Art & Design at Alfred University. She has taught at the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas and multiple institutions in China, including the Central Academy of Fine Art and as an invited critic to Tsinghua University.
For inquiries, commissions and purchases, contact the artist at maryjohnson.studio@gmail.com
Follow @maryjohnson.studio
