Chris Johanson

November 12th — November 22nd

Johanson’s work includes paintings, drawings and sculptural installations often using found materials and reclaimed wood. His influences draw broadly upon grafitti, underground comics, skateboard culture, psychedelia and American subcultures and politics. With no formal art training, Johanson learned his craft in everyday jobs - painting skateboards and houses. Living in San Francisco's Mission District he shared with fellow artists, Barry McGee, Alicia McCarthy and the late Margaret Kilgallen a preoccupation for filtering themes on urban realism through graffiti art and social commentaries on found or recycled materials. Johanson’s own early work consisted of observational drawings of cartoon characters, using black sharpies on walls and lamp-posts. He continues to work in the ‘documentary’ spirit, his current show at the Modern Institute combines elements of figuration and the modern Californian landscape, titles such as ‘Modern Death / Trap painting’ and ‘Upper Middle Class Suburban Home’, a haphazard model of a modernist suburban home, with underground bomb shelter, suggest a commentary on the current anxieties of suburban America.

Chris Johanson was born in 1968, he currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon, USA. This is his first solo exhibition in the UK.

Exhibition highlights include Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, "Baja to Vancouver: The West Coast and Contemporary Art," San Diego (2004), CA; Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, California (2003, solo); SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, (2003); the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), SECA Award Show, San Francisco, California (2003, solo); Galerie Georg Kargl, Vienna, (2003, solo); the Whitney Biennial, New York (2002), and the UCLA Hammer Musem, Los Angeles (2001).

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