Untitled (#725)

Motivated by process rather than planning, Clay Johnson’s work emerges through a series of critical responses to previous decisions. He begins each painting by taping off one or more horizon lines. Painting layers on top of the other, reaching as many as twenty or even thirty layers of acrylic paint, certain elements—a color, a line, a texture—may eventually be destroyed or revamped.  Johnson’s intuition is guided by visceral reactions to the physical qualities of paint, the quest for pictorial balance, and the emergence of abstract relationships. 

Clay Johnson was born in 1964 in Durham, North Carolina. He studied painting and art history at Duke University, receiving a BA in 1985. For several years he was the studio assistant for prominent American painter Robert Natkin in New York City where he also frequently exhibited his own work. Currently living and working in Laramie, Wyoming, Johnson has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States. His work is in the collections of the Kimpton Corporation and the University of Wyoming Art Museum, among others.