“Sampling Partial installation view”
About the Show
Denver artist Tsehai Johnson makes her long anticipated + gallery debut with an exhibition of new works that further develop her singular approach to ceramics, one which has brought her acclaim and uncommon notoriety. "Sampling" further defines concepts the artist introduced in her recent exhibition "Fields," presented in 2005 at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. Whereas "Fields" delivered a full scale view of the artists new direction, conforming to site-specific aspects in the museum environment, the follow up works of "Sampling" elaborate the concept by focusing inwards on detail and revealing more of the relationship to the work's origins. Consistent between the two is the spectacular beauty the artist has recently achieved while re-defining the dialogue between artistic ambition and marketable attributes.
Johnson's work has always stroked the confluence of the profound and profane experiences inherent in daily life, grounded in the seductive qualities inherent to ceramics. The material properties the artist has consistently nurtured in her work simply explode with vitality when integrated with more common materials that exhibit a dual nature in their quantifiable uses. Through her inventive interpretation of the contradictions elicited by life and lifestyle, Johnson creates a unique and ever evolving universe of her own, a puzzle as elaborate as any of the works presented in "Sampling."
At the heart of “Sampling” is a framework based on decorative wallpaper used to investigate overlapping relationships that challenge traditional boundaries between labor and pleasure, public and private, and between drudgery and beauty. Driving this inquiry are several converging interests, from the realities and expectations of home life, the close juxtaposition of labor and pleasure in domestic space, and finally an exploration of how the logic and organizing principles of ornament to can create order out of chaos.
"In this work I hope for a blend of familiarity and associative malleability inviting reflection upon the fabricated nature of beauty and the labors and pleasures of daily life. Utilizing direct references to dense ornamentation joined with fabrication with familiar materials opens the possibility of formal musings on the everyday realities of our existence, meaning found in the humdrum of daily life, and objects acting as documents transmitting information about the most intimate details of human life. There is plenty of beauty, poetry, and drudgery in both art making and homemaking and in making these pieces, I am interested in alluding to these overlaps inherent in my life as a mother, omemaker, and professional artist."
- Tsehai Johnson
The transformation of Johnson's work from the studio to gallery is a spectacle that can only be imagined by the typical viewer. Though based on the repetition of elements, the subtle nuances in the configurations portend the artists ability to seize the dynamics of a space and elaborate each work to it's grandest effect. The complexities of the installation may be taken for granted as much as the extreme work put into each element to make up the whole. The end result, however, is a pure, thorough vision that pulls the viewer into a new zone, one that envelopes and inspires.
Johnson has an extremely focused education in the arts, and pursues her work in as elegant and serious a manner as any renowned artist. Beginning with a BA in Art History from Portland Oregon's Reed College, Johnson continued her studies at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, graduating in 1993 with a BFA in Ceramics. She completed her studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, receiving her MFA in Ceramics in 1999. Since then she has exhibited continually both locally and nationally to a degree not common for many Denver based artists. As 2005 elaborated that tradition, it also brought her a level of controversy neither warranted nor sought by the artist, as Colorado's Governor Bill Owens utilized her early application to a state funding agency as an example of budgetary misuse in the arts. What brought massive attention to the artist's work on the Internet (and found her name on blogs everywhere) did little in the way of furthering the public's understanding of her constant prestige and excellence as an artist. Nevertheless, Johnson has continued forward in the most astute and engaging manner possible, advancing both the caliber of her works with the caliber of her exhibitions. 2006 will see her emerging onto a greater international platform with exhibitions slated at the Icelandic Art Museum in Reqzjanesbaer, Iceland as well as the Centro Cultural Metropolitano in Quito, Ecuador. Other exhibitions and invitationals are scheduled for art centers and galleries in Kansas City, Missouri, Portland, Oregon, and in Denver's backyard of Aspen. + gallery is proud to present a major showing of Tsehai Johnson's newest work to the Denver marketplace.
