7 minute read
Metal Head
Johnson at his home surrounded by some of his artwork. | Photograph by Rick Watson
METAL
Advertisement
HEAD
Text by RICK WATSON | Photographs by JAKE AARON and MALARIE BRAKEFIELD
CREATING ART sometimes involves pain. Artist Eric Johnson learned this first hand when he expanded his work from acrylic paintings to metal sculptures.
Johnson, a Dora resident, laughed as he said, “It’s a lot of fun most of the time, but I get burnt a lot.”
He gets burned because when he works on his industrial sculptures, he uses a welder, and he only wears a glove on his left hand. He holds the welder with his right hand.
Welders are used in the fabrication or sculptural process that joins metals by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion.
When a welding rod touches a metal sculpture, spangles of hot molten metal spew like a child’s fireworks sparkler, but the tiny nuggets land on hands, arms, legs, and other unprotected places.
“I could probably pick up a boiling pot off the stove, and it not hurt at all now,” Johnson said.
Johnson doesn’t use specialized tools in his sculpting work. When creating The Bishop of Birmingham sculpture, he used a Millermatic welder, a cutting tool, and a pink toy hammer that came out of a child’s toolbox. “The hammer is just big enough to hammer that stuff around corners and mold it to the frame,” Johnson said.
The sculpture was constructed using 20-gauge carbon steel. The Bishop took Johnson about three weeks to complete. “Those
were six-hour days in the workshop,” he said. He did the sculpture in 2017. “I love caricatures of people,” he said. “If you look at my paintings and other sculptures, they all have big lips. I love lips.”
When Johnson started The Bishop, he started with the lips. “After I did the lips, everything else came behind that,” he said. He laughed as he said, “When I did his eyes, he looked like a shady bishop.”
Johnson said that his pieces tend to evolve, and it’s not until he’s worked on the project a while that the sculpture comes into focus.
The Bishop has exaggerated lips and head. It’s wearing a mitre (hat) and holding a crosier or Bishop’s staff.
Rarely does Johnson begin a project with the finished piece in mind. “And about half the time, it goes in the wrong direction.” When this happens, he sets it aside and waits to see if inspiration comes. If it doesn’t, he takes it apart and makes something else out of it.
One of the first sculptures Johnson did was called I Am the Lion. “That was when I first started doing sculpture, and I was completely broke,” he said. All he had to work with was welding wire and 1/8 inch metal bars.
The sculpture stands about 20 inches tall and looks defiant. It looks like a bare-chested warrior with dreadlocks.
Johnson used a small 110-volt welder to create the sculpture. His hair was made out of rebar, his face was made out of a big nut, and the rest of it is just welding.
“I love his stance and the way his head is tilted,” Johnson said. “He just looks really strong.” This sculpture became the mascot for Johnson’s workshop.
One of the sculptures appearing at the Bankhead House and Heritage Center is one called The Sawfish. He has another one similar called The Caterpillar. “I did these two pieces as an experiment for a larger piece,” he said.
With his paintings, he doesn’t use a paintbrush much. “I use a pallet knife, and that’s not because I think a pallet knife is better, it’s because I can’t really paint,” he said. The pallet knife feels more like sculpting, according to Johnson.
One of the things that influences Johnson’s art is the toys he played with when he was a child. “I loved Shogun Warriors, and I used to have all of them,” he said. When he makes a sculpture, he thinks about those action figures.
He usually completes paintings in one session. “When I’m in the zone, I usually finish the paintings in about 10 hours,” he said.
Johnson was exposed to art at an early age. “My mother’s side of the family
The Bishop of Birmingham, a metal sculpture created by Johnson.
had always been really artistic,” Johnson said. “I grew up drawing and sketching.” He kept all the work he did when he was younger. He laughed as he said, “It’s fun to look back and see how bad I was.”
After he left college, it took him a while to pursue art. He started with a company driving a forklift but quickly moved into the engineering department, where he worked for the next 19 years.
He explained that he is not the analytical type. “I was sort of a round peg in a square hole,” he said. “But it worked out because I was creative.” In 2008 when his job ended, he decided to try his hand at art. Johnson told his wife that since his work at the engineering firm was ending that he felt it was time to give art a shot. He set a time limit of two years. “I told my wife that if I hadn’t made it within two years that I would go out and get a real job,” he said. She agreed, and he hasn’t looked back.
Johnson started off creating large acrylics on 4 x 4-foot framed wooden panels. The subjects are often abstract paintings of kids.
public sculptures and signs. His clients for these are businesses, cities, universities, and corporations.
“I do laser signs for apartment complexes around the country,” he said. “Between laser cutting signs, working on sculptures, and painting when it’s too hot to work on sculptures, it keeps me busy.”
His non-commercial art pieces usually go to galleries around Birmingham and Georgia. “I’ll do a piece for one of those guys or swap some out just to keep my work fresh,” he said.
to Johnson. The walls of Johnson’s home have unique paintings, metal sculptures, and laser-cut pieces that make the space look more like a museum than a living room.
He did a lot of shows in South Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia, according to Johnson. “It worked out really good.”
“The work is feast or famine. You’ll go gangbusters for three months, and then not make a dime for months,” he said.
Most people learn about Johnson at the art shows he attends. “Even if I went to a show and didn’t sell anything, the next week, I would get calls,” he said.
Most of Johnson’s metal sculptures seem to resonate with men because the art is more masculine. “If I have a guy that really likes it and says that I’m going to bring my wife back by, it’s over,” Johnson said with a smile.
People can view Johnson’s work locally at the Bankhead House and Heritage Center in Jasper (until April 17) and also Alabama Goods in Homewood. Beverly McNeil Gallery represents the sculptures. He also has some art pieces at Art Alley in Homewood.
Galleries in Georgia include Lagerquist, which is the oldest gallery in Atlanta. He also has pieces at the A.T. Hun Gallery in Savannah.
Johnson has pictures of his work on his Instagram page (@ericjohnsonart). His website is www.ericjohnsonart.net. •
Choice Awards Readers’ 2020 Choice Awards Readers’ 2020
HONDA OF JASPER
4102 Hwy 78 East • Jasper, AL • www.hondaofjasper.com (205) 385-0100 or Toll Free 866-395-0100
HYUNDAI OF JASPER
