Very good condition.
Signed, titled, and dated on the upper edge of the verso.

Since graduating with an MFA from Hunter College in 2005, Aaron Johnson (1975-) has become a leading contemporary painter, collected by many international institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Colección Solo in Madrid. Johnson’s paintings are celebrated for their fluid compositions and vibrating colors. Johnson applies washes of acrylic paint to a canvas, permitting the luminescent pigments to flow into each other. Subsequently, Johnson will then flesh out the connections between the forms that have developed on the canvas. Likening the painting process to a discovery rather than considered creation, Johnson animates anthropomorphic forms into figures. This technique is inspired by the Surrealist and Color Field movements of the 1960s, Johnson’s paintings present psychedelic new worlds where figures fade in and out of focus. These images embrace the interconnectedness of all things, and often portray the fine line between opposing forces. Figures readily transform from angelic lovers into grotesque monsters; bodies contorted in a rhythmic celebration of life can quickly distort into ghost like specters. These works embrace the full spectrum of natural and cosmic experiences.

“Every brushstroke flows like a force of nature that I react to as I work.”

Johnson’s skill of creating dynamic composition is on full display in Cosmic Cowboy with a Black Cat. The painting captures the opposing conceptual elements of Johnson’s practice, simultaneously depicting the angelic and sinister, filled with both hope and despair. Johnson has commented that the figures with multiple eyes are ethereal beings with the ability to see more dimensions or more qualities of existence. The painting is an invitation to open our own mind to more of life’s potential. It acts as a contemporary Rorschach test to reveal our own complex psychological interpretations of the universe. In a world full of darkness, Johnson’s painting stands out as a luminous declaration of possibility, championing the capacity of the human spirit in this world and beyond.

OVER THE INFLUENCE, Hong Kong