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(solo) exhibition:
The Weight of Gravity  

31st October - 31st January 2021

Interseccion Arte Contemporaneo, SMA, Mexico

The rare and charming combination of romantic minimalism can best describe these most
recent works by British artist Ian Johnson, specifically created for his new exhibition in the
Intersección Gallery in San Miguel de Allende.
True to nature, his long standing muse, Johnson creates work which either illustrates or
includes in the material used the nature surrounding him. Walking into the exhibition
space, the viewer is confronted with an exquisite installation consisting of a low, double
tiered wrought iron ribbon table forming a large Moebus ring-like visual movement.

Resting on glass panels are root-like branches which have been dipped in clay giving them a
strange life-like quality. Hanging from above over the centre of the table is a group of
large leaves which have also been dipped in clay, giving them a immortalized-in-time
appearance. On either side of this installation hang two works on paper with mud, clay
branches, anything and everything the debris found at the end of the day which
almost helps form abstract bas reliefs. Small, exquisite sculptures made from branches also
treated with clay are placed around the room.
Breaking with this theme but always dealing with nature, are two wall installations in
blues and greens somewhat similar to past works, but these are smaller and using a similar
but different technique and color palate. Carefully blended spoke like mini panels are
separated by hair-thin silver strips. One group gives us Spring like greens and the other the
magnificent blue blue-green blues of the ocean. Everything about this exhibition space is
quiet, still, nature at its most romantic, a minimal snap shot, still, we can almost smell the
countryside.

Text by Margaret Failoni

 © Ian Johnson 2024

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