James Johnson (He / Him)
James (JJ) Johnson is a multimedia artist who works across print, sound, video and sculptural installation. At the centre of his work is image making. Working between digital softwares and physical methodologies to create his images, this dialogue between digital and physical is an important identity at the core of his work. These images are often abstracted depictions of landscapes, created using editing softwares to distort and resample found imagery. Drawing on digital rave archives, JJ collects visual information which expresses an ambiguity of space or time to create a digital palette, which is then painterly and digitally manipulated, blending various elements and textures from different images to arrive at his final compositions. He further works into the images using dyes and mediums to create tangible depth and texture. These images are then expanded into sculptural installations using hybrid stretcher sound-systems and more recently kinetic sculptural elements, to create immersive works that explore image-making beyond the frame. He aims to create atmospheric, enigmatic and immersive work informed by material and technological experimentation and refinement.
‘In between 2’
His most recent work ‘In between 2’ explores the expanded field through sound with sculptural steel and sand structures. The ambiguous print, depicting figures within a landscape, is stretched on a curved stretcher and supported by a large steel iridescent frame. Within the structure of the print a hidden sand box releases burnt coral sand, encouraged by the low frequency vibrations of the inbuilt sound-system. This work explores how the language of an image can be expanded beyond its edges and into the wider space both physically and orally, further immersing the viewer.
