Chris Johanson - The sound of energy in space, the space of energy in life

Like a veteran of the northern Californian punk and skating scene: this is the way in which artist Chris Johanson has been described by Aaron Rose, the man who took the initiative for the first study of Johansons work. As a teenager, Johanson was already using waste wood and paper for his raw, figurative drawings. Since then, he has diversified his oeuvre with three-dimensional conceptual works and abstract images. In work that is simultaneously comical and sinister, Chris Johanson comments on the predicament we face from our modern-day consumer society, where perilous issues, such as 'self help', psychotherapy and the spiritual craze, are sweeping the world.

Johanson's abstract work, often using geometric forms and images which resemble starbursts, can be interpreted as a light-hearted, but urbane and refined commentary on Modernism. Entirely in keeping with the multi-disciplinary nature of SCHUNCK*, in The sound of energy in space, the space of energy in life, the artist presents both three-dimensional works, as well as music and drawings. It is an exhibition with a character that can be described as serene, reflective and perhaps even Buddhist-like.

For years Chris Johanson has been transforming day-to-day subject matter into simple stories in paintings that make bright, flat reference to illustration or folk art: The New York Times called their look "a down-on-its-luck, cheerfully abject cartoon style… reminiscent of artists like William Wegman, Raymond Pettibon and Sue Williams."

The artist was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He has no formal training in art, learning some technique by painting skateboards and houses. He moved to San Francisco, California's Mission District in 1989, where he became a member of the local art community, initially drawing cartoons on lampposts and bathroom walls. In 2004 he bought a home and moved to Portland Oregon."

Johanson achieved international fame after participating in 2002 Whitney Biennial exhibition. The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932. The Whitney show is generally regarded as one of the leading shows in the art world, often setting or leading trends in contemporary art.

The next year Chris Johanson was one of winners of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's "SFMOMA SECA Experimental Design Award.

Chris Johanson
The sound of energy in space, the space of energy in life