Agean Tempest Painting

A.C. Johnson (born October 2, 1954) is an American artist, proponent of abstract expressionism. Known for his unusually expansive and divergent use of mediums, and penchant for experimentation, he has gained a reputation by breaking the ice with his unique style and techniques of abstraction. Johnson's paintings, at times reminiscent of the works of American painters of the 40's and 50's, including Pollock and Rothko, are fresh and original, arguably advancing the form without mimicking the past Masters. Complimentary to this retrospective influence, his digital renderings are firmly rooted in the 21st century. Early Life Born 1954, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, one of the many steel towns of that sprang up around Pittsburgh, Johnson grew up in a culturally rich and diverse part of the country. A frequent, and mainly uninvited guest, of the many Slovakian, Croatian, Italian, and German picnics that dominated the summers, his appreciation for what Johnson calls "˜the sameness of our differences' runs deep. Of Swedish and English descent, with one Great-grandfather a soldier in Britain's renowned Coldstream Guards, the other a stone mason of reportedly extraordinary strength and skill, Johnson's roots were planted deep in the no-nonsense, hardworking, and proud middle class neighborhoods of those who made the steel that built America. His father, A.C. Johnson, Sr., and mother Vera Jean Johnson instilled a strong sense of hard work and craftsmanship in him, and his younger brother Eric. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., Johnson spent five years in the Army, followed by a career as an engineer, inventor, author, and artist. After nearly 25 years of laying down lines on paper with the requisite precision of the mechanical designer, Johnson began experimenting with the more free flowing lines and forms of the abstract. At that moment he discovered both the source and outlet for a lifetime of expression. Artistic Influences Johnson is largely influenced by nature, Native American Art and culture, and by the American expressionist painters of the 1940s and 50s. " I'm of the opinion that there are certain characteristics of nature, in the design of things, that are intrinsically pleasing to the human eye, mind, and heart. The challenge and opportunity being to discern those elements or patterns of design, and replicate them, whatever the medium. This is a thing that I have done for years as an engineer and designer.