Jess Johnson

Jess Johnson (born 1979) is a New York-based New Zealand contemporary artist who works in drawing, installation, animation, and virtual reality. Her drawings depict alternative realms while her collaborations with Simon Ward and Andrew Clarke adapt the world of her drawings into video animations and virtual reality.

Jess Johnson
Born1979
Tauranga, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand
EducationCanterbury University
Known fordrawings, virtual reality
Notable workIxian Gate (2015) (w/ Simon Ward), Whol Why Wurld (2017) (w/ Simon Ward), TERMINUS (2018) (w/Simon Ward)
Websitewww.jessjohnson.org

Early life and education

Jess Johnson was born in Tauranga, New Zealand in 1979. She grew up in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand and attended University of Canterbury in Christchurch from 1997 to 2001, where she earned a BFA.[1]

Career

In 2004 she moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she co-founded and ran Hell Gallery from 2008 to 2011.[2] She began exhibiting her work in group and solo shows throughout Australia and New Zealand, including shows at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

In 2016 she relocated permanently to New York City after participating in the Australia Council's Greene Street residency in SoHo.

Works

Drawings

Johnson's drawings typically include bold colours, repetitive and fractal geometric shapes, humanoid figures, alien creatures, and structures that draw from both classical and ancient architecture. They have been likened to the work of Japanese pop-psychedelia artist Keiichi Tanaami.[3] Although the detail and precision of her drawings suggest digital composition, the drawings are all done by hand. Mistakes made during the creation of her drawings "act as mutational directions" that she incorporates into them. She has said: "If I were able to digitally erase my mistakes, I wouldn't necessarily get that organic growth in the world. I like that it's a little out of my control and driven by something else."[4]

About Johnson's drawings, Chloe Mandryk of Art Almanac wrote:

Jess Johnson's complex and sensuous images use bold colour and a geometric bravura that conjure the glow and kinaesthesia of arcade video games and the 'wormholes' of speculative thought so key to good science fiction. Her humanoids occupy a virtual reality comprised of patterns and ancient architectural forms that delineate the boundaries of these imagined spaces.[5]

Johnson has discussed the role of text in the creation of her drawings:

Whenever I start a new drawing I first choose a piece of text from one of my notebooks. The text is almost always the starting point. Whatever amorphous vibe the words give off determines the imagery that comes. The phrases are often rhythmic and I choose them because they get stuck in my head like thought-worms. The text plays a really practical role in the construction of the drawings. The letters and words are like scaffolding and I often arrange the composition around them. The number of letters gives me mathematical starting points for mapping out other areas.[6]

Animation and virtual reality

In 2014, Johnson began collaborating with video artist Simon Ward to adapt her drawings into animated video. Their first collaborative work, the single-channel high-definition digital video Mnemonic Pulse, premiered at Gertrude Contemporary in Melbourne in March 2014.[7] Composer Andrew Clarke created original audio for the piece and continues to collaborate with Johnson and Ward.[8]

The first virtual reality work created by Johnson, Ward, and Clarke, Ixian Gate, premiered in 2015 as the centerpiece of Johnson's solo exhibition, WURM HAUS, at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.[4]

Johnson and Ward then began creating a series of five HD video animations, each of which translated a single drawing by Johnson. In 2017, these videos premiered at The National 2017 at Carriageworks in Sydney as the installation piece WHOL WHY WURLD. The work was a finalist for the 2018 Walters Prize.[9]

In May 2017, Johnson and Ward received a commission from the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) for a major new virtual reality work as part of the Balnaves Contemporary Intervention Series. Five new VR pieces premiered as part of Terminus, Johnson and Ward's exhibition at the NGA, opening 4 May 2018.[10]

Influences

Johnson has identified a wide range of influences including the ideas of Terence McKenna;[11] Frank Herbert's Dune and the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky;[12] the dystopian novel Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban; early video games; and comics.[3]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions
  • Core Dump, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2022[13]
  • Neon Meat Dream, Nanzuka Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2019[14]
  • Panspermia, Sing Omega, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2019[15]
  • Terminus (w/ Simon Ward), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2018
  • Auckland Art Fair, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2018
  • Everything not saved will be lost, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2017[16]
  • Jess Johnson at CLIFT, presented by FOUR A.M, San Francisco, CA, 2017
  • Hex Nemesis, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia, 2017[17]
  • Chondrule Terminus (w/ Andrew Clarke), Dark Mofo: Welcome Stranger, Tasmania, Australia, 2017
  • Darren Knight Gallery, Discoveries Section, Art Basel, Hong Kong, 2016
  • Eclectrc Panoptic, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2017
  • Wurm Haus, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 2015
  • Sensorium Chamber, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2015
  • Endless Future Terror Forever, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2015
  • Gertrude Edition 2015, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia, 2015
  • Electric Affinity: Jess Johnson/Tina Havelock Stevens, Alaska Projects, Sydney, Australia, 2015
  • Ratholes in the Babylon of Information, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2014
  • Gamma World, Vivid Festival, MCA Facade, Sydney, Australia, 2014
  • Mnemonic Pulse, Gertrude Contemporary Studio 12, Melbourne, Australia, 2014

Awards

Collections

Jess Johnson's works are held in the following permanent collections:

References
  1. "Jess Johnson & Jordan Marani: Home Is Where My Hell Is – Monash University Museum of Art". www.monash.edu. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  2. "Jess Johnson: Wurm Haus | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  3. Frank, Priscilla (10 May 2016). "Sci-Fi Drawings Explore A World Beyond Reality And Today's Technology". Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  4. "The gorgeous, unsettling worlds of Jess Johnson – Versions". Versions. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  5. "Jess Johnson: Hex Nemesis – Art Almanac". Art Almanac. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  6. Szilak, Illya (13 July 2016). "Artist Profile: Jess Johnson and the New Language of Virtual Reality". Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. "STUDIO 12: JESS JOHNSON AND SIMON WARD, MNEMONIC PULSE". Gertrude Contemporary. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  8. Farr, Kristin. "Juxtapoz Magazine - Jess Johnson: Infinite Quest". www.juxtapoz.com. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  9. "Walters Prize nominees announced". NZ Herald. 22 March 2018. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  10. "Balnaves Contemporary Art Intervention". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  11. "Caught In Eternal Digital Glitches: A Conversation With Jess Johnson". Filthy Dreams. 28 October 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  12. "Dune Meets Psychedelic VR in a New Immersive Art Experience". Creators. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  13. "Jack Hanley Gallery Core Dump". ArtForum. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  14. "Juxtapoz Magazine - Neon Meat Dream: The Otherworldly Work of Jess Johnson @ Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo".
  15. "Panspermia, Sing Omega".
  16. "Jess Johnson – Exhibitions – Jack Hanley Gallery". www.jackhanley.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  17. "Jess Johnson | Hex Nemesis – Fremantle Arts Centre". Fremantle Arts Centre. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  18. "Void game (2013) Jess JOHNSON". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  19. Johnson, Jess. "Collection – Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu". christchurchartgallery.org.nz. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  20. "Jess Johnson". www.collection.wallaceartstrust.org.nz. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  21. "Jess Johnson". www.mca.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  22. "Monash University Collection Online Database". 65.99.230.190. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  23. "Jess Johnson – MBC". michaelbuxtoncollection.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  24. "Jess JOHNSON | Artists | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  25. "ARTBANK : Jess Johnson". Retrieved 15 March 2018.

Further reading
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