About Page
Artist Statement
STATEMENT
As a printmaker I very much value the visual effect of the "mark". In the pen and ink drawings I work to produce a set of visual tones and lines through repeated and very fine dots. Paul Klee is said to have remarked that a line is a series of dots. I have taken this to be very literally true in these works, whereby all lines, tones, areas and shapes are created by dots, lots of dots. This is a natural extension of my work as an etcher and engraver.
The Intaglio works are primarily line work with some use of aquatint and spitbite processes. After the original etched image is complete I selectively engrave to alter textures or change the reading speed. The "Black Rain" piece, on the other hand, is entirely executed as a drypoint image.
The photographic work is primarily black & white in a style very much influenced by Ansel Adams, Oliver Gagliani, Brett Weston and Jack Welpott. My occasional forays into color are usually architectural along with flowers, trees and interesting objects, shapes and designs.
In all work, I try to produce a variety of visual scales or viewing distances to extend the viewing time or viewer engagement as long as possible, from across the room to nose-on-the-glass. This is an attempt develop multiple layers of visual associations. I am much influenced by James Joyce in this matter.
My graphic imagery almost always addresses issues of perceptual and cognitive variability, time and vanity. I try to make the apparent permanence of space and time appear more elastic, less assured, more susceptible to risk and mis-understanding and therefore, more metaphoric. Many of the photographs are of old, used, often abandoned objects where the people have gone leaving their artifacts behind. Combining mythological symbols and icons with contemporary issues is my way of describing private concerns and perceptions about real, imaginary and social worlds. Hardly a unique approach.
Wayne Johnson
Intaglio prints available on Rives BFK. All photographic images are Archival Fine Art Prints. Full size reproduction of the drawings are available upon request as Archival prints.
Sample of Wayne G's Work
Browse the full collection at the gallery.
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Exhibitions
| 03/19/07 |
Gormley Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD 18th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhbition |
| March 2007 |
Dangenart Gallery, Nashville, TN Nancie Mattice Award Juried Exhibition |
| 03/05/05 |
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA 29th Juried Show |
| Fall 2004 |
Barry Gallery, Arlington, VA Invitational Drawing Show |
Wayne G's Favorites
| Art Opportunities |
| Dangenart Gallery, Nashville, TN |
