Omaha artist Andrew Johnson’s new collection of mixed-media paintings invites the viewer to find sanctuary in life’s rough edges. The abstract works embody a warmth and playfulness that feels beautifully suited for the long days of summer. There’s a spirit of freedom and the expansive possibility of the here-and-now harmonizing through these many pieces.

It’s an ethos that’s baked into the very fibers of the paintings, many of which were made from the raw material of Johnson’s earlier work. In taking a knife (quite literally) to his older paintings to create this work, Johnson has given form to something vibrant and energized – composting the past for the sake of a richer present. The paintings’ coarse lines and effusive brush strokes foreground the immediacy of spontaneous expression. (See also the SKU codes and other art supply artifacts wryly incorporated into several pieces.)

“I want the work to be all error,” Johnson writes in his artist’s statement. A provocative approach, no doubt, in art and in life. These are paintings that find refuge in the beauty and the mess. That each of us might also do the same seems to be this collection’s most generous encouragement.

About Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson is an artist and engineer born and raised in Nebraska. He received an MAE degree in structural engineering from the University of Nebraska in 2006. He is a self-taught artist and works in a variety of media. Andrew has previously shown work at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and had a solo exhibition at The Union for Contemporary Art in 2013. Comment end