W. K. Johnson New Work

"Inclined To Go Up On The Wall , Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 48"

As I was working on this painting and using the same color in different parts of the painting and that color looked different depending which colors surround it.  I was reminded of Joseph Albers Book “Interaction Of Color”.  In the introduction he writes “First, it should be learned that one and the same color evokes innumerable readings.  Instead of mechanically applying or merely implying laws and rules of color harmony, distinct color effects are produced -through recognition of the interaction of color- by making, for instance, by making very different colors look alike or very nearly alike.”  I might add that one can also make the same color look like a different color when it is placed next to a color or colors that cause this illusion see and example in figure 1 below, a plate from Alber’s book.

Fig. 1 from "Interaction Of Color" the Xs are the same color

The title of this new painting "Inclined To Go Up OnThe Wall", comes from a song lyric. I was recently invited to exhibit in the CMC Gallery in Charlotte, N. C. and I was thinking that it takes a certain amount of courage to put my work out there, to put it up on the wall for thousands of people to see and to critique. This made me think of Mark Knopfler’s song “All The Road Running” and these lyrics,

“Well if you're inclined to go up on the wall

It can only be fast and high

And those who don't like the danger

Soon find something different to try.”

Group Show

W. K. Johnson is participating in a group show at the CMC Art Gallery in Charlotte North Carolina through October 2024. The Gallery is located at 1000 Blythe Boulevard Charlotte N.C.

art gallery w. k. johnson artist

PICASSO'S CRITIC

Women Of Algiers 1955 Pablo Picasso

During the period when Picasso was working on his “Women Of Algiers”  series he commented to his dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler,

“ You never know how your work will turn out.  You start a picture and it becomes something quite different.  It’s strange how little the artist’s intention counts for.  It’s really tiresome: you always have a critic at your elbow saying I don’t like that or it ought to be different.  He grabs at your brushes and they become heavy as lead.  He doesn’t know what he is talking about , but he is always there.”

If you have ever painted, you know what he meant.  I often tell people that the painting tells me what it needs and what to do next.  For Picasso it was his inner critic, one that he did not always trust.