INFORMATION
Current Artist Statement
To and From the World: a dialog with space(s)
Painting for me has mostly been a solitary practice. Although I see myself primarily as a studio painter, I have been a mural painter and even ‘performed’ painting during music and art events. After those brief outward facing moments, I always returned to the protected space of my studio. I have used my painting practice to explore nearly anything that interests me with some reoccurring themes. The themes of recreating the feeling of space, the sweep of time in an image, the sensation of looking into and out from spaces, and the awareness of place all thread their way through my work.
In 2022 and 2023, I felt the need to move beyond my studio – out into the landscape to make work. I have done work in the past about maps, place, and geography, but I really felt like moving my studio out into the landscape. At first, I tried some small quick trips that in retrospect, helped me to really feel effective and comfortable painting in public. Soon, I crafted some tools to help move my studio out into the landscape. I developed a bicycle-mounted easel, a large portable studio, a pocket sketch kit, and watercolor setup. These tools accompanied me as I extended my trips.
My work changed too as I moved further and further away from my studio. At first, feeling the weight of tradition, I painted representationally – trying to capture the likeness of the landscape. I learned some plein aire techniques and participated in some painting festivals. After each trip when I returned to the studio, I had some new skills, a renewed sense of wonder, and some experimenting to do.
I began to feel that a single image didn’t really communicate all that I was experiencing in those spaces. I sought to explore other aspects of the landscape – the smells, how I felt, what I was thinking about, etc. when I was looking. The idea of “landscape” permeated my thinking. I started to realize that how I gazed into and through the landscape very much reminded me of a cinematic type of scan – a broad visual casting outward. That sweep of space in cinema, as in my experience, also guides the viewer inward to a parallel emotional landscape. When we look, we feel.
The experience of a landscape or place is plural. It is both physical and non-physical. Environment – where we are or where we perceive we are, has a profound effect on us. Taking time while painting as I did – sitting, looking, observing these places, can be a powerful exercise to help one to identify where they really are. The painter inevitably creates a painting in reaction to something. “Where” for me became the something.
In the end, the deliberate shove or push that I gave myself created some exciting creative avenues of exploration, and a deeper awareness of how I experience places and environments. I ventured out and experienced new spaces, then returned refreshed with new ideas. An inspirational breath to and from the world.
Johnston 2.21.23
Brief Biography
Neil Johnston began his painting career as a production billboard painter. After a decade of painting large-scale billboards and wall murals, he worked to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in painting at the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Shortly after, he completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Studies/Painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Through his painted works, Neil often uses layering, fragmentation, and multiplicity to explore time, memory, and place - inspired by and reacting to developments in the study of time physics, visual cognition, geographic mapping, music improvisation, graphic design, pop culture, and anime.
In addition to painting, and the visual arts, Neil is a musical artist and keeps an active creative life in music – writing, performing and recording. Also, Johnston works as a community arts advocate, and enjoys participating in and facilitating creative process dialog. He has completed many successful painting and musical collaborations - working with other artists, musicians, and communities. He is a tenured Art department faculty member at Century College in White Bear Lake, and has served the White Bear Center for the Arts for many years as a board member, and as an emeritus director.
Neil’s work has been collected and commissioned by private individuals and corporations. His work can be seen in the corporate collections of Medtronic Inc., Hines International, and at Century College, in White Bear Lake, MN.
