Oct 10

Justine Johnson

Written by Kristen T. Woodward, curator, MFA, professor of art, Albright College.

Justine Johnson’s elegant works with saturated dyes have been featured extensively in exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in Germany, Latvia, Greece, and China. A skilled sculptor and painter, her recent shows include ProjekTraumFN, Manzell Friedrichshafen, Germany, Everyman Cinema, Belsize Park, London, and Oriel Fach Gallery, Narberth, Wales. Her works can be found in numerous private and public collections, notably; Hong Kong Polytechnic College, the Ferrofluidics Corporation in Massachusetts, United States, and the Halo Consultancy, in London. Justine held artist residencies in the Art Center in Mendocino, California, United States, and Haverfordwest, in Wales.

Indigo dyes bloom into velvety depths in Justine’s organically manipulated pieces, vacillating between sculpture, painting, and mixed media installation. Shaped paper supports recall fabric patterns and converge various ethnic textile traditions, reflecting the artist’s research into costume and Japanese textiles. Within the intrinsically meditative process of growing and harvesting plants for her dye, Justine describes her studio process as a form of artistic alchemy, coaxing the essence of color from fermented flora and lye. Lingering fabric fold lines left over from her dying process leave traces in pale altered grids, while speckled dots, seemingly randomly scattered across dark blue fields evoke Whistler's Nocturene. Still other indigo grounds leave vestiges of articulated shapes reminiscent of spinal x-rays and excavated blueprints.

Crimson Cochineal dyes and handmade madder contrast indigo blue in fluttery pink assemblage. Floral motifs are perceived in several pink-red basswood constructions. Irony resides in several of the radial feminine forms, as viewers contemplate insect origins in the blood red hue. Spherical pieces teeter between dimensional geometric tessellation, and then suddenly break predictable directional tiling. An underlying order appears to hold the faceted pieces together in exquisite tension. Small random gaps in Justine’s spherical sculptures hold pockets of empty space. These interstices offer visual rest from obsessive repetition, while implying entrance into hidden internal chambers.

The 81 cm x 51 cm sculpted paper piece entitled Teardrop Supernova (pictured above) appears on the precipice of implosion, as ribbed indigo bands pull apart and expose an underlayer of gold leafed washi paper. The bottom teardrop shape emerges from the connected circular form above, giving way to what viewers may intuit as interstellar birth. Justine invokes kintsugi with her use of gold leaf, the Japanese art of filling cherished pottery cracks with gold as a way to offer homage to the history of breakage. Beauty resides in flaws. The dynamic and forceful implication of Teardrop Supernova, however, suggests fissures are part of a natural and meaningful order rather than an accident. The gold seams function as metaphorical lightning against a darkened sky. An illusion of expansion and contraction also occurs from the radiating fracture lines, giving the substantial yet static form a visual pulse.

Justine’s indigo flows from electric blue to twilight, and with the chromatic shifts come moods ranging from tranquility to enigmatic mystery. Her foraging and farming substances for her dyes imbues her studio practice with deep-seated cyclical creation, while her personal global connections mingle intricate and time-honored processes. Justine writes about a desire for “oneness” as we pause and contemplate the history of indigo, madder and gold. Elemental forces shaping our world present as pure manifestations of color. The results of her creations transmit essences of the visible spectrum, while our collective psyches instinctively recognize the abstract forms she puts forth represent the invisible and unknowable.