Chris Johnson is one of the most prolific visual artists in Norman. Once he gets on to an idea, he is irresistibly compelled to see it through to fruition, no matter how long it takes to do so. In June, Resonator will be the beneficiary of Chris’ remarkable and compulsive art-making practice as we proudly host his most recent body of work, J. Chris Johnson’s Yearbook, an impressive series featuring 102 18” x 24” painted portraits that will completely fill the walls of our space.
In anticipation of the exhibition opening on June 14, Resonator’s newest contributor, Poet Clark met with Chris in his home studio to talk about his work and where it comes from. Here is the transcript of their conversation
J. Chris Johnson in his studio
J. Chris Johnson Interview
May 26, 2024
Poet Clark, Resonator Institute
I am in the home of local Norman artist Chris Johnson, visiting about his upcoming show at Resonator Institute and the progression of his work as a drawer and painter. We are talking in the kitchen, just off his studio area, where we are surrounded by grayscale portraits covering the walls, waiting to be a part of the show.
Chris, thank you for sharing your time this morning. I’m really looking forward to hearing about your work.
Sure
I’d like to start with how you’ve developed as an artist. Is there anything you’d like us to know?
I had high school art. And I just like to figure out things by myself. I was a skateboarder because it's like, there's no coach, there's no rules. There's just whatever ride I wanted.
That's the same way that I do this.
But yeah, if it wasn’t for high school art and learning, like the blind contour technique and stuff like that...
I'm not a painter. I mean, I draw, but this is just kind of...
Honestly, this is just cheating. That's all it is. There's no technical ability there whatsoever (points to the portraits on the wall). That's just drawing.
And so, how did you start the shift from drawing to painting?
Well, because I got so obsessed with drawing...that, like “an eighth of an inch would matter”, that my neck would shake. I would get so obsessive compulsive about making sure that that line was correct.
So, that's when I switched to painting. And I was like, “oh, I can just put the shapes in there”. They can be wrong. And then when that dries, I go over it and it lets me find the right shapes.
And that's why it's switched to painting.
I love that. Give yourself some freedom. Kind of let go of that need for perfection.
Yeah, I threw out my back out drawing. Because I just got so... (gestures by leaning forward and squinting). And then, like, I sat up and I realized I couldn't sit. I couldn't stand up.
So, I was like, you know what? (Shakes head).
And so, I started painting with socks and paper towels and, like, the worst brushes possible.
That's incredible. How long have you been painting? When did you make that switch?
I think I lived here, so that was maybe ten years ago? 15 years ago? Not sure, but I booked an art show based on paintings I hadn't done, which is what I do. (Laughs)
It was in Oklahoma City, at Smith's place. And I asked her how big that wall was, which is what I asked Curtis. And I just did the math to figure out how many paintings would fit there and at what size.
But yeah, I think I talked to my friend John about Resonator. And I was like, I think that's the only place I would do this because it’s got that long hallway. I had done one painting and I was like, oh, maybe I could do 100 of them just like this. And I was like, “I just figured this thing out”. I was in between projects, and I needed a win. You know, I needed one thing to be good. To keep going.
So, I did a painting of this Greek sculpture, and I just did it in black acrylic. And it dried and I put gray oil over it. Then I just put white in there. I was like, oh, my God. Like, how did I not figure this out 30 years ago? I would have been doing this 30 years ago if I had figured this out!
So, that's that cheat technique that I came up with to do this. They always say, you know, you're not supposed to use acrylics and oil together. Not wet. But dry, yes. Because that white gesso on every canvas, that's just acrylic and chalk. So, you're painting on acrylic anyway.
And so, yeah, the black is acrylic, the gray is a wash. And then I put black and white oil color over it again. So, it gives it that depth. That's not skill. That's just technique.
Portrait of Brad Hill
Well, we could argue that either direction, I feel like. I think that concept of the cheat is really funny because there are all of these weird criteria around what art is and what it should be. And which technique is “right”. I don't really believe there is such a thing. As an artist you find your voice and your own language in art, and how you communicate it.
That's what you've done. And it's stunning.
And I've always said this, too, that there are a couple different kinds of artists, if you boil it down. There's artists and then there's, like, crazy people that have art supplies. (Laughs)
And I lean more over that way. Crazy people with art supplies.
You know, who else has 200 of anything is their house? You know? There's 300 failures in my garage right now. But that's what it is.
And finding those mistakes is the most important thing. Making mistakes and being fine with it. You know, (pointing gesture) that didn't work. Move on.
I'm not going to struggle.
One of my professors used to say, fail fast. Figure out really quickly what's not working, because that's the bridge to what does work. And again, it comes back to the language of it. We have these words like “mistake” and “failure”. But really, the truth is we're just exploring.
It's a one big experiment. And you're like, “oh, this worked out. And I really like the way this worked out. This not so much. I'm not going to do that again”.
And that lets go of that binary of right or wrong. Yeah, I love crazy people with art supplies. I consider myself one of them.
I think that today we're starting to see a shift away from that black and white rigid thought about “What is an artist? What is art?” What does that mean? We get to define ourselves. And I just I feel like we're trying to wash all that away, and let's just make stuff and talk about it and look at it.
That's someone else's decision. An artist? Because I didn't decide to be one. You know, I didn't pick because, you know, I would have picked something a lot easier. (Laughs)
(Laughing) Right.
I’m thinking about this series and looking at your decision to do the grayscale. Now, you've worked in color before. So, I wanted to ask if you would talk a little bit about the significance of the grayscale and how you made that decision to move from color to grayscale?
Well, for this one, it's like a yearbook, right? But only upper class students get color.
But I've got so many friends that are so talented.
I've met so many talented people.
And they're still in black and white. Compared to people who are in color that, you know, may be a little bit better at talking about (their work), you know, or whatever, that “success” part is. Which is fine. But that was this (points to the greyscale portraits on the walls around him). If you're going to this show, when you’re standing there, it's like you're inside of a yearbook.
And you see those people whose faces talk to you.
Because that was a lot of it, too. Where, like, I wanted to be able to paint people that said something without, you know...
That you could stand there and go, “Oh, yeah. That's a thought”.
That’s a thought person's having it that makes you...makes your imagination go see who these people are and what they're doing and why their face looks like that.
“Never Met Him”
Right? The human connection.
When you look at this person, there's a story there, but we don't know what it is because you haven't given us the story. But you've given us this emotion in this space, right? And we get to ask the questions. What is she thinking? Why does he look sad? What's going on in her world? I feel like that's what I'm hearing from you: “I'm going to show you this moment in time, but you get to be curious, and you get to explore it and ask those questions.”
And I immediately sensed that when I came in and saw your work, it was like, oh, I want to know more about that and what's there and what's that?
This thougth leads into the next question, which is how do you choose your subject matter? How do you find these people?
Well, I think it is that people speak with their eyes.
You know, the eyes are locked in.
And then some of them, honestly, were just because the shadows looked good, you know? When I started painting, it was the old Hollywood photographs. The black and white, perfectly set up photo. That's how I learned how to paint, was by painting those. So, I was looking for the shapes. And I loved the old Hollywood ones that would be light on both sides, but then dark back in the center, which is back at (points to a specific painting on the wall)...yeah, this one here. Where you can see this. (Gestures to one part of the painting). And no one does that anymore. But yeah, mostly it was just expressive faces. Like interesting faces.
And so people say “Why don’t you paint, like, Jimi Hendrix? And I think there's enough pictures of Jimi Hendrix. If I wanted to do 100 paintings of the most common denominator of famous people, I would have done that sh*t, you know?
But I don't care about that. This is not about that. This is about the Jimi Hendrix's I know. And plus, I mean, half these people I don’t know.
Right. But there's something that you want us to know. Something that you're experiencing, that you're sharing with us through your work.
And I think that's really important. And what I'm hearing is that’s it about that human connection. “I want you to see the stories of these people.”
Most artists are storytellers. There's something that we want to share. There's something we want to say. But when you put the human being into it, it changes completely because there's a connection there. There's an understanding, I think, that is coming forward, you know. Even just those moments of time.
Or, “it was fun. It was play. I love the shadows. I love the light. It was a challenge and I wanted to I wanted to paint that.” And all of those things exist together. They're all important and they all have value and they all have meaning. And, I think that most people can relate to that. They can stand around your work and go, “oh, I see myself here.” Which is really beautiful.
So, what do you do when you're not painting?
Dang, that's a good one.
I used to do yard work all the time. I like to do a lot of flowers in the front. I've gotten super lazy about it, but honestly, I like doing stuff in the house.
Like, I painted this kitchen. I did the gray, I did those floors. I had no idea where that came from. Right? But it was always about making something a little bit better each time. And see, I'm still working on that (points to the kitchen table nook). I’ve got to get the table top finished.
Portrait of Gil Harris
Have you thought about what's coming next after this series?
Well, throughout the years of my doing art, it’s been like, “Oh, that's the guy that does skeletons. Oh, that's the guy who does boats on fire. Oh, that’s the guy ths does...you know.” (Laughs)
So, there's always going to be a drastic shift in what I do because I run out of interest.
But, doing this, like, I was probably burnt out at about 50 (paintings). I was like, why am I still doing it? And I thought, “well, I said 102 and 102’s going to be overwhelming but it’s going to be a cool thing to see.” The idea was finished. And when an idea is finished in my head, I don't want to work on it any more. (Laughs) And I certainly don’t want to do portraits for the rest of my life, right?
So, that's why I completely switched. I bought 6 by 18ft of canvas. And I'm just going to do one painting and it's all drawing. But I'll probably seal it then paint over it. And it's going to take maybe a year. I don't know. (Chuckles) It could be done next week. I’m not sure.
But that's also the thing is, like, you have to be right with those shapes and lines on a portrait. And in this, it does not matter. It’s going to be...(laughs) like, the scale of the figures doesn't matter. If they overlap, it doesn't matter. I don't have a show set up for it. I don't want to think about that.
And, I’m probably going to do, like, I don't know, maybe five that big? I'm not sure.
That’s so cool! Well, when you get them finished, maybe, Resonator would love to show them. (I slide in a sly smile and Chris laughs)
Do you ever do any collaborative shows, or are you generally solo?
Generally solo. but I have done group shows. A friend works at a tattoo shop in the city, and they always invite me to do their shows. They’re always kind of thematic and I always try to mess with them a little bit. But, that's just kind of fun stuff.
Whenever I do stuff for the tattoo shop, I do it for the guys who are in the shop. You know, because they're like, “What is Chris going to do?”. That's why I did this. (Points to colorful portrait). It’s an H.R. Giger painting but that’s Blondie instead of the original face.
Because Giger did a video with Blondie. They’re bizarre. I didn't know about it until a couple years ago. But, I mean, I spent way too much time on that, and I was like, why would you spend so much time on somebody else's work when you could be doing that on your own?
So, it kind of shifted my gears, too, into doing stuff like this. Why would you paint Jimi Hendrix? You know, it’s either going to look like him or it isn’t. And how many how many different ways can you paint Jimi Hendrix before it's been seen before?
Right. Or like how many Bob Marley pictures do we really need them? I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Bob Marley, but you get those icons and they're used and used and used and used. And so sometimes it is about, well, how can I spin that in my own work? How can I bring something different...create my own Jimi Hendrix's.
Chris, in closing, is there anything you would like us to know about your Yearbook work that may not come through without an artist statement? (Chris does NOT like artists statements)
(Laughs) I'm not sure.
Some of these people are friends of mine who are incredibly talented artists. They're very special people and no one gives a sh*t how talented they are. Like, I can play guitar. I know the same five chords everybody else does. But I've seen some people play and I’m like, “Holy f*ck, you're a roofer?” You know, it's like, damn dude.
So, some of this was highlighting these people that are incredibly talented and still do it all the time for next to nothing, you know? And what is that thing about “if you were on a spaceship alone for the rest of your life, would you still do art?” Because there was a concept that everyone does art for one person. Even subconsciously.
I would, you know. And I think it's probably that this house is my spaceship now. This is where I want to be doing art all the time.
I would be on that spaceship, too. I want to be on the spaceship with all the art.
Chris, I can’t thank you enough for the gift of your time and for sharing a bit of yourself with us.
(Big, genuine Chris smile) Absolutely.
Please join us for the opening of J. Chris Johnson’ Yearbook: Paintings from 2023 – 2024 on June 14, 2024 at Resonator Institute 325 E. Main St, Norman, OK
