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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Colin Johnson
By Spraygraphic | June 18, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Colin Johnson
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
CJ: I’m an illustrator and gallery artist. I’ve been a professional illustrator since 1995 and a full time gallery artist for about the last 5 years. I enjoy painting, music, movies, sharpening pencils, collecting art, toys, masks, and eating food. I don’t enjoy vacuuming. I have a dog named Boo. She likes treats!
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
CJI live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. I also live in a condo. I work there as well.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
CJ: Primarily acrylic paint for my straight painting work. But the collage work is, of course, mixed media. In the collage pieces I use everything from glued papers, to buttons, to found garbage, to quilt and fabric patterns, etc…
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
CJ: Usually I start by sketching out ideas in a sketchbook or on regular white 8-1/2 x 11 paper. Once I put together a solid idea in sketch form I transfer it to tracing paper. Next I paint a background for my painting. I then transfer the tracing paper drawing to the painted background. Once the drawing is transferred I begin to fill the indicated areas with either paint or collage until the piece is complete to my satisfaction. It usually amounts to a fine balancing act. When it feels right to me the piece is done.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
CJ: I don’t usually have too many creative blocks. I have many pieces going at one time so if I run into trouble with one piece I put it aside and work on a different piece until I can think of a good solution or approach to the first piece. However, sometimes I’m working under a deadline and don’t have that luxury. In that case I usually pull out an older piece for reference and ideas on how to formulate a solution for completing a troublesome illustration.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
CJ: From a magic can in my kitchen pantry.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your piece, Human Refuse?
CJ: Sure. That piece is a good example of my full on collage work. For lack of better terminology I’ve begun to referring to those pieces as "hyper collage." And that’s basically because I attempt to pack as much detail (painting and collage) into one piece as conceivably possible. I’ve also begun to use that style of work as a metaphor for various kinds of human waste hence the title, "Human Refuse." My personal work over the last 3 or 4 years deals with a variety of environmental issues including pollution, and human neglect and abuse of the planet we live on. As such, I’ve been contrasting this collage work with a variety of straight painting works which depicts plant forms which may or may not really exist but are nonetheless a metaphor for the natural world. The "Human Refuse" piece was traded in 2007 to the artist Robert Hardgrave (aka. "Farmerbob").
SG: Can you please tell us a little about the differences between your two illustration styles found on your website?
CJ: Well, my main illustration style is a full on color style. It allows me to pretty much tackle any kind of subject matter whether it be narrative or conceptual. This work employs a mix of both fully rendered dry brush acrylic painting and flatly rendered painting work.
The second style is much more stripped down and basic. I use my trademark "red oxide" color to create the various forms in a flat painting style on predominantly off white backgrounds. Sometimes the backgrounds employ minimal bits of collage. I developed this style to be very basic and direct so that I didn’t have to think too much about the style itself and could focus more on it being a vehicle for high concept ideas.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your collaboration work with Dan May ?
CJ: Dan and myself became friends a few years back through Flickr and we just seemed to hit it off. We enjoy alot of the same things when it comes to art and painting, so collaboration work was just a natural progression. Our styles seemed to fit well together and many of the efforts so far have felt pretty satisfying as a result. We’ve worked on fairly small pieces to date. Maybe we’ll work on something larger in the near future… However, both of our current styles are still developing and changing so I’m excited to see where future unions will take us…
SG: Where has your work been seen?
CJ: Magazines, books, galleries, art stores, pet stores, Fedex, the woods, antique stores, toy stores, the gas station, Cape Cod, garages, schools, the laundromat, boats, cars, buses, motorcycles, campers, trains, The Hall of Justice, storage closets, dishwashers, dryers, washing machines, Spain, furnaces, furnace rooms, kitchens, living rooms, Romper Room, bedrooms, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, rec halls, public parks, urinals, dog houses, chicken coops, landfills, Starbucks, libraries, oceans, lakes, rivers, tides, bars, airports, bus stations, shopping malls, Wal-Mart, outdoors, back alleys, trashcans, dumpsters, Dunkin Donuts, night clubs, the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia, etc., etc…
SG: Where will it be seen next?
CJ: I have some work heading off right now to a show at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome, Italy which opens in June. And coming to a landfill near you real soon…
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
CJ: Probably to be privately commissioned for a good sum of money to simply create an original piece of art with a lenient deadline.
SG: What is your favorite color?
CJ: Huh, well… at the moment I would say blue. And that’s simply because I’ve done a few blue pieces of late. However, I don’t really have a favorite. Tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be favoring a different color.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
CJ: I can honestly say that I don’t have a favorite. It would just be way too hard to choose. However, a friend told me yesterday that they thought Thomas Kinkade was the greatest of all time. And who am I to argue with that?
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
CJ: Just finished reading "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman . Good stuff. And I’m currently working my way through the current issue of Hi Fructose .
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
CJ: Oh man, not for a long time. I did quite a few back in my college days. They’re probably all in a big pile in a storage closet at my parent’s house. If I did do one today it would probably be something pretty unconventional.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
CJ: Arby’s.
SG: Any final words of advice?
CJ: As the great Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot by watching."
ART: 1. Born, 2. Cs the Day, 3. Moon River, 4. My Pop, 5. Spore Addict, 6. The Blue Thread, 7. The Great Divide,
8. The Sound of Silence
Additional Links:
www.flickr.com/photos/17875869@N00/
www.illoz.com/mossgreenafterglow/
www.myspace.com/169677307
Topics: Artist Interviews, Paintings |
3 Responses to “Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Colin Johnson”
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June 18th, 2008 at 5:30 am
wonderful work!
thanks for the interview.
r.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
great interview! i really like Colin’s work. they have such a wonderful surreal quality to them that i never tire of. there are just so many things going on in them… everytime i look at them, i seem to see something different. i love that. looking forward to seeing what he does in the future. thanks.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
great interview colin!!