Apocalypso, screenprint, 2000, ed. 100
12 single-sided pages, individual pages 5" x 5", unfolded 6ft
The autobiographical statement below was published under the title "Who is Bart" and it can be found on Johnson's website, where he also sells his works in a variety of media including books, ceramics, T-shirts and Giclée prints. Another site devoted to his work features his paintings and drawings. See them at: [Bart JohnsonArt] and [About Bart | Bartwerke]
"Bart Johnson was born in Washington, DC in 1954 with high-functioning autism that was undiagnosed for fifty years. He began having visions of the Apocalypse in grade school, along with the terrifying belief that the people he was surrounded by were robots. A contributing factor to his delusional state was going out into the hallway of his Catholic grade school surrounded by the deafening scream of air raid sirens to huddle with his 5 year old classmates and to protect their neck vertebrae from being crushed should the ceiling collapse on them from the shockwave blast of a nuclear bomb. The King and Kennedy brother assassinations which began when he was 9 years old followed by LSD and the Vietnam War did little to dispel his initial suspicions he was living in Apocalyptic times surrounded by robots. And now, his initial apprehensions have materialized with the latest technological “advances” like Artificial Intelligence and Neuralink. He currently lives in peaceful rural seclusion with only the occasional mass shooting in a nearby town to disrupt the orderly tranquility."
Johnson studied painting and received his BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University, and then went on to earn an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For the next 18 years he lived in New York, after which he spent a number of years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and currently he resides in Pennsylvania.
Inspired by the old masters and contemptuous of the contemporary artworld of which he says "I feel little to no connection to most current contemporary art...The only work I find real inspiration in is that which was made prior to the 1960s (the 60s being) when the commercialism connected to Pop replaced seriousness—by which I mean the spiritual purpose—of earlier American painters such as the Abstract Expressionists."
Johnson states that his preoccupation with the figure and his "...pictorial language (are) derived from an intense study of life...Observation is essential to me, just as it was to painters as diverse as Bruegel, Rembrandt and Watteau." As such Johnson does little work in his studio but spends as much time as possible in public settings such as coffee shops where he can draw & write and generally immerse himself in the flux of daily life.
The 1960s were a defining period for Johnson and in the following quote he addresses how this era influenced his art, "I was in Richmond during the Vietnam war, surrounded by anarchy, radical politics, and hallucinogenic drug use. I think a lot of what I'm doing now, my sensitivity to current calamity, is affected by that formative period." Critical of the current times in the USA he views America to be in "...the death throes of a materialistic culture." But despite his apocalyptic view of the country he has positive words for the activity of art making stating "Making art is a way of trying to regain childhood. We all lose it, judge it, and learn ourselves out of it. Then, we try to un-learn and journey back to that place. Art is a magical practice; it's a deep belief in man's spiritual nature, despite his long fall from grace."
For me its been fascinating to encounter an artist, an 'outsider' and an 'insider' simultaneously, who has utilized the unique qualities of the accordion format to create these wonderfully wild, crazy, humorous and desperate post-apocalyptic friezes.
A key influence in writing this text, as well as all the source for all the accompanying quotes, can be found in Kristin Carlson's excellent article titled "Studio Visit with Bart Johnson" (2012) located on the website of the Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, that represents Johnson's work. Studio Visit with Bart Johnson | MINDY SOLOMON GALLERY
Note: to increase the size of the images click on them
accordion with wraparound cover
back cover
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Memories of the End of the World, 2004, ed. 1000
6 pages double-sided, individual pages 8.5" x 8", unfolded 4ft
accordion with wraparound cover
reverse side
back cover
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Sailing Into Oblivion, 2004
18 single-sided pages, individual pages 4" x 5.5", unfolded 7ft 4"
The image on the cover is a play on Théodore Géricault's "The Raft of the Medusa" (1818-1819) – originally titled "Scène de Naufrage" (Shipwreck Scene) – which is an oil painting by this French Romantic artist and and lithographer.
accordion with wraparound cover
back cover
