Clay Johnson: Over the Line by Page Bond Gallery

CLAY JOHNSON OVER THE LINE

Front and back cover image: Clay Johnson, Little by Little , 2021, Acrylic on aluminum panel,

Front and Back Cover Image: Laurie Fisher, Float 2 , 2020, Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches, pages 8 - 9. 36 x 36 inches

PAGE BOND GALLERY

CLAY JOHNSON OVER THE LINE April 2 - April 30, 2021

1625 WEST MAIN STREET RICHMOND VIRGINIA 23220 USA P 804 359 3633 F 804 355 4854 PAGEBONDGALLERY.COM

CLAY JOHNSON OVER THE LINE When I think of the house I grew up in, the places I’ve visited, or the people I’ve known, I’m not drawing on a unified continuum of experience. Rather these entities exist in my memory as collections of moments, collaged together and plastered with a label—Home, School, Friend, Work. Whether very general (e.g., “Human”) or quite specific (“Michael”), these concepts live in the mind as aggregations of snapshots, pasted together in no particular order, the most recent blended with the most distant (and all of the others) to create a representation of whatever the thing, place, person, or idea may be. My work involves a kind of editing that’s similar to what the brain does in constructing our concepts of the people and things that we remember. I layer many sections over one another, keeping the parts that I like and painting over the less memorable elements, or modifying them so that they fit with my idea of what the whole is (or should be). Just as our brains forget many unremarkable experiences, my paintings contain lots of layers beneath the visible surface, which nevertheless influence their perception in subtle ways. I begin a new section by defining the top and bottom edges of an area, using a pencil and straightedge. But as I apply paint to the surface, those edges are never maintained perfectly. Even when I tape an edge, the tape often wobbles slightly, or the paint may seep under the tape in spots. To me those graphite lines represent a Platonic or divine perfection—an ideal plan. But the true physical nature of that element, as realized by my flawed, human application of paint, is never perfect. The texture is often uneven, the edges are not clean, and colors bleed into one another. As more layers of color are added, each section necessarily both adds something to the picture, and takes something away (covers something up). And as time goes on, any attempt at perfection falls by the wayside. The new objective is to assemble the accumulated moments of painting into a narrative that makes sense for them within the context in which they find themselves.

So my painting process mimics the passage of time. The moments continue to arrive and to pass. Some are remembered (preserved) and some forgotten (painted over). At certain points in the process a painting will assert itself and lobby me to make particular decisions. An important part of my job is to know when to let the work determine its own destiny and when to lay down the law. But in the end I am in charge, and only the moments that I choose to keep become part of the lasting story.

Lorenzo’s Riddle, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 36 inches

Rome, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 60 x 60 inches $15,000 6

Crows Nest, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches $10,000 8

Little by Little, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 48 x 48 inches $10,000 10

Night and Day, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 48 x 48 inches $10,000 12

Next Time Around, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 60 inches $9500 14

The Settlers, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 60 inches $9500 16

Double Down, 2020 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 48 inches $8000 18

The Road Ahead, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 48 inches $8000 20

The Way it Happened, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 48 inches $8000 22

Twice Removed, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 48 inches $8000 24

Down South, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 36 inches 26

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Lorenzo’s Riddle, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 36 inches $6500

The New Math, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 36 inches 30

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The Venetian, 2021 Acrylic on aluminum panel 36 x 36 inches 32

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Clay Johnson

Lives and works in Laramie, WY Education BA, Studio Art and Art History, Duke University, Durham, NC Solo Exhibitions 2021 New Paintings, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO 2021 Clay Johnson: Over the Line, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2020 Wide Open Spaces, 425 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 2020 The Wide Open Landscape, 555 California Street, San Francisco, CA 2020 Clay Johnson: New Paintings, Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2019 Latitude: New Paintings by Clay Johnson, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2019 Clay Johnson: New Paintings, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO 2018 New Paintings by Clay Johnson, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY 2017 The Connected Edge, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO 2016 Wide Open: New Paintings by Clay Johnson, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2003 Clay Johnson: New Paintings, District Fine Arts, Washington DC 2002 Clay Johnson: New Paintings, District Fine Arts, Washington DC Selected Group Exhibitions 2020 Glean: Select Gallery Artists, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2020 Abstraction: Old Friends, New Faces, Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2019 Glean: Select Gallery Artists, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2019 The Modern Landscape, Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2019 Luxembourg Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, La Pinacothèque, Luxembourg City 2018 SOFA, George Billis Gallery, Chicago, IL 2018 Selected Abstracts, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2018 Summer Group Show, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY 2018 Art Market SF, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2018 Art Palm Springs, George Billis Gallery, Palm Springs, CA 2017 New Acquisitions, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY 2017 Art Market SF, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017 Art on Paper, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, New York, NY 2016 ArtMarket Hamptons, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY 2016 ArtMarket SF, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA 34

2015 2004 2002 2002 2002 2001 2001 2000 1999 1999 1999

Art Silicon Valley, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Mateo, CA Art of the Twentieth Century, Samson Fine Arts, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY Gallery Artists, Samson Fine Arts, New York, NY Poetic Minimalism, District Fine Arts, Washington DC Works on Paper, Samson Fine Arts, Park Avenue Armory, New York Gallery Artists, Samson Fine Arts, New York, NY Works on Paper, Samson Fine Arts, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY Works on Paper, Samson Fine Arts, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY Small Works, District Fine Arts, Washington DC Talent 1999, New Artists/New Works, Samson Fine Arts, New York, NY Works on Paper, Samson Fine Arts, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY

Selected Collections Allen Myers Company La Pinacothèque (Luxembourg) The Kimpton Corporation University of Wyoming Art Museum

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