Mixed media exhibition on display through Dec. 2 at Flatlanders Art Galleries in Blissfield
BLISSFIELD — Art lovers have less than one month left to check out a solo exhibit currently on display at Flatlanders Art Galleries in Blissfield.
“Elegy,” the solo exhibition of mixed media artist Justin Johnson's work, can be viewed until Dec. 2 at Flatlanders, which is 1 1/2 miles east of Blissfield at 11993 E. U.S. 223. The art gallery is operated in conjunction with Flatlanders Sculpture Supply. “Elegy” can be viewed free of charge at Flatlanders.
Hours in the gallery are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Johnson holds both a bachelor’s degree in fine/commercial art and a master's degree in studio art-drawing from the University of Saint Francis, a news release from Flatlanders said. He exhibits his work regionally and has had solo exhibitions at Wright State University in Ohio, the University of Cincinnati in Clermont, Ohio; Wabash College, Indiana; Defiance College, Ohio; Grace College, Indiana; Huntington University, Indiana; Goshen College, Indiana; Manchester University, Indiana; and University of Saint Francis, Indiana. He also has previously exhibited his work at Adrian College.
His work was recently featured in “A Sense of Place: Abstract Art in Northern Indiana” at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art from December 2021 through March 2022. This was followed by an exhibition at the Midwest Museum of American Art, April to July 2022.
Coming up in the spring, Johnson’s work will be included in an exhibition at the Indiana State Museum focused on contemporary abstraction, Flatlanders said.
“My work is focused on figurativism and spirituality. Subject matter ranged from interpreting the lives of martyrs and saints to classical narratives and the incorporation of the scarab as a spiritual symbol,” Johnson said in the release. “I would first design a background field using acrylics and incorporate found papers and book bindings dating to the 19th century. These fields would create a ‘tangible history’ or visual patina for each illustrated subject.
“After the mixed-media drawing was completed, I would then do a reverse painting in gold on glass and register the two compositions as one,” he continued. “This process became a contemporary interpretation of the way in which sacred icons include a metal ‘oklad’ or covering that is attached over the image.”
As he continued to create these works, Johnson said, he became more intrigued with the background fields rather than with the illustrated subjects.
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“I asked myself if these ‘spaces, portals and sanctuaries’ could convey the same response for myself as the artist and also for the viewer,” he said.
Since 2016, his focus has been to illustrate subjects of violent events happening in the Middle East, specifically Syria, the release said. His intentions are not to illustrate the subjects as interpretations of violence but as "whispers" and "elegies" to the voiceless.
“I am trying to ‘describe the indescribable,’” Johnson said. “These are lamentations that illustrate tragedy through abstraction. I am visualizing my feelings that cannot be depicted through the pictorial.”
For more information about Flatlanders or its current solo exhibit of Johnson’s work, call 517-486-4591, find Flatlanders on Facebook or visit www.flatlanderssculpture.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Mixed media exhibition at Blissfield gallery through Dec. 2
