Waist High Wet Painting

Patrick Joel Johnson received an MFA in visual art at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and a BA in visual art, with a concentration on photogrpahy, from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ yet his journey had just begun. He then spent a summer semester studying figure drawing and painting at a graduate program in Cortona, Italy with the University of Georgia's Lamar Dodd School of the Arts. His work continues to examine various conventions of beauty and sexuality and their place in the present social climate attracting the attention of art critic Robert Storr as well as the influences that help shape his growth. Patrick has said, "My work consists of usually human realistic figures placed in surreal settings most often made up of whatever materials are around, including bright and/or neon acrylic paints, pigments and pencil on stretched canvas, occasionally including paper collage and found materials." His work explores such reoccurring themes of alienation, sexuality, loss and love. "I am emotionally touched and visually excited by the personal and autobiographical nature of work by artists like Nan Goldin and David Hockney. I want to create paintings that are equally as telling and I enjoy the challenge of enveloping private thoughts and ideas into a finished piece anyone can enjoy and understand. The characters and situations invite individual visual interpretations while refusing to confirm any suspicions. These emotionally charged narratives examine examples of conventional beauty, questionable gendering and costumey fashions that simultaneously adhere to and straw away from any and all conventionality that struggles to exist in a rapidly changing world."