Johnson went to art school in New Zealand but did not complete it, saying that in some ways her art career came late. “I’m probably more involved in the DIY space and the music scene,” she said. “I used to create art for friends’ music gigs and things like that. I’ve always really enjoyed making posters.”
In her early twenties, Johnson moved to Australia and co-ran a DIY space where she painted posters for events. After the venue closed, she found time to develop her art practice. “I was really diligent this year, painting every day and locking myself in the studio,” she recalled, adding that there were “hints of a science fiction world” in the paintings, but they had not yet taken shape. Johnson describes these early paintings as “two-dimensional, flat, incomprehensible masses of pattern.”
There isn’t much conscious decision-making at all in the drawing. At this point they feel almost self-generated. “
Over time, her artistic world evolved. First there is a horizon. She started using a “creative grid” and it became part of the landscape. Then there’s architecture. After about three years of painting, “the bodies started to appear.”
Johnson explains, “As soon as the corpses showed up, they started presenting these ritual scenes.” Soon, “alien gods” and “social hierarchies” appeared in the universe. She describes it as a process similar to building a stage set. “Once you create an environment, you start populating it.” From there, “the more things you add, the richer and more complex it becomes.”
After about four or five years of painting, Johnson noticed a shift in the way she continued to construct her universe. “I no longer have to look so much for external images of the external world, and I’m constantly referring to earlier work to build this internal language,” she says. Once that happens, Johnson can paint without thinking too much.
“There’s not a lot of conscious decision-making that goes into drawing at all,” she says. “At this point, they feel almost self-generated. Each painting builds on the previous one and expands on it that way.”
Johnson’s paintings may begin with words or a single image in her mind. From there, other elements will take shape on the paper. She started with some pencils but soon moved on to pens, which Johnson said helped her resist the urge to perfect the drawing. For color, she uses paint pens and fiber tip markers. At the end of the process, she added gouache for some figures and other elements.
