Eric Johnson

Eric B. Johnson, BA. 1971 University of Oregon; MFA, Photography, University of New Mexico, 1978, researched, printed and wrote about the photography of 20th century composer Ernest Bloch. (Aperture, 1971, "A Composer’s Vision: The Photographs of Ernest Bloch”) His landscapes of golf courses as a form of "earth art” were published by The Friends of Photography in 1980, New Landscapes. He taught photography at Western Washington University, 1978, and Ohio State University in Columbus, 1979. In 1980 he moved to California to join the faculty at California Polytechnic State University.

In the 1980's his work ranged from color landscapes of an archaeology of California titled "Abandoned Highways" to "Scenes of the Pacific War"—enamel spray on color prints using still framed video from WWII. Earlier work was also included in the major survey by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art titled "Photographs From The Last Decade" in 1987. He moved to the digital environment in 1989 in order to execute the concept of "Videoglyphs." This work was included in exhibits including "Digital Art" at Purdue University; "Currents in Electronic Imaging" at Pacific Lutheran University; "Digital Masters" at Ansel Adams Gallery, San Francisco, as well as at Cuesta College in "Key Strokes." It has also been included in the Adobe Photoshop CD-ROM Digital Art Gallery. This work was included in the national survey exhibit titled "New Realities: Hand-Colored Photographs 1839 to the Present" at the University of Wyoming Museum of Art and five other museums around the country.

In 2000-02 extensive photographic work on Ireland golf courses resulted in a collaborative book with Paul Zingg titled "An Emerald Odyssey: In Search of the Gods of Golf and Ireland,” published by Collins Press in 2008.

Since 2006 Eric has been involved in new digital still life work using personal, political and cultural references. This work has resulted in a major new series of 24” 36” archival pigment prints, located in appearance between photography, painting and sculpture titled “Shrines & Altars.”

These constructed photographs are in the vein of Rauschenberg's “Combines’ - they are hybrids located between painting, sculpture and photography.

This series began with a desire to use image I made as a freshman in college in 1968 of Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Seeing the remarkable parallels in the eras, I felt it imperative to look back and bring these images forward. In this process, I began to use still life arrangement as a means of working with these memories and current impressions. In addition, having recently emptied out my mother’s storage unit after her death, I found all sorts of interesting objects that would bring another personal and evocative layer into the work. I also realized that machine parts I had saved years ago, that had been used to build whimsical robots by a good friend who passed away at an early age, would add another contrasting personal layer. I often use postcards of famous artworks as a kind of foil or provocation in the constructions. Finally, I have also used ubiquitous items referencing our contemporary “Home Depot” - “Best Buy” culture.

Shrines, we know, are arrangements of symbolic objects allowing us to honor the departed and altars are platforms for rituals often associated with hopes and dreams. I use these timeless pathways to provoke a range of emotions and states of mind that I hope find some universality in their final form. Through many variations, I began to move beyond the images of Nixon and Bobby Kennedy to a more interior space. Thus, these shrine and altar-like arrangements of mirrors, tarps, frames, postcards, glass fragments, machine parts, Sunday ads and other objects became a universe of their own, a kind of “wunderkammer” as it was called in 17th century Germany, or “wonder closet” of collected curiosities. As time has progressed, the series has evolved into a theater for my imagination, the infinity inside held within physical and psychological frames. The process of making these works and the transformative result is alchemy. Starting simply, I arrange objects and images in an increasingly complex structure, sometimes in gravity defying balance. Choosing and placing is an intuitive, spontaneous dance. A motley crew of elements becomes a story, melding together under the fire of light. The process builds and flows with ritual intensity until the light fails. Indeed, as the series has expanded, I have come to see the stage as a space where kinetic energy and diaphanous layers interact with objects, textures, and light to build an image that has a sculptural and physical presence. The final image is built out of the fragments and gestures made during the shooting session. The result is a blending of sculpture, painting, and photography. Both intoxicatingly fun and grueling, this alchemical path has opened the door to a true chamber of wonders.