Artist Statement
Justin Johnson

From 2002-2012, my work focused on figurativism and spirituality. Subject matter ranged from interpreting the lives of martyrs and saints to classical narratives and the incorporation of the scarab as a spiritual symbol. I would first design a background field using acrylics and incorporate found papers and book bindings dating to the 19th century. These fields would create a “tangible history” or visual patina for each illustrated subject. After the mixed-media drawing was completed, I would then do a reverse painting in gold on glass and register the two compositions as one. This process became a contemporary interpretation of the way in which sacred icons include a metal “oklad” or covering that is attached over the image.

As I continued to create these works, I became more intrigued with the background fields rather than with the illustrated subjects. I asked myself if these “spaces, portals, and sanctuaries” could convey the same response for myself as the artist and also for the viewer.

I made the decision to distill each composition. I began to follow and research the violent events and atrocities happening in the Middle East - specifically Syria. Since 2016, my focus has been to illustrate these subjects not as interpretations of violence but as “whispers” and “elegies” to the voiceless — to those lives lost. I am trying to “describe the indescribable.” These are lamentations that illustrate tragedy through abstraction. I am visualizing my feelings that can not be depicted through the pictorial.