Jess Johnson

Johnson's drawings typically include bold colors, repetitive and fractal geometric shapes, humanoid figures, alien creatures, and structures that draw from both classical and ancient architecture. They have been likened to the work of Japanese pop-psychedelia artist Keiichi Tanaami.[3] Although the detail and precision of her drawings suggest digital composition, the drawings are all done by hand. Mistakes made during the creation of her drawings "act as mutational directions" that she incorporates into them. She has said: "If I were able to digitally erase my mistakes, I wouldn't necessarily get that organic growth in the world. I like that it's a little out of my control and driven by something else."[4]

About Johnson's drawings, Chloe Mandryk of Art Almanac wrote:

Jess Johnson's complex and sensuous images use bold colour and a geometric bravura that conjure the glow and kinaesthesia of arcade video games and the 'wormholes' of speculative thought so key to good science fiction. Her humanoids occupy a virtual reality comprised of patterns and ancient architectural forms that delineate the boundaries of these imagined spaces.[5]

Johnson has discussed the role of text in the creation of her drawings:

Whenever I start a new drawing I first choose a piece of text from one of my notebooks. The text is almost always the starting point. Whatever amorphous vibe the words give off determines the imagery that comes. The phrases are often rhythmic and I choose them because they get stuck in my head like thought-worms. The text plays a really practical role in the construction of the drawings. The letters and words are like scaffolding and I often arrange the composition around them. The number of letters gives me mathematical starting points for mapping out other areas.[6]

In 2014, Johnson began collaborating with video artist Simon Ward to adapt her drawings into animated video. Their first collaborative work, the single-channel high-definition digital video Mnemonic Pulse, premiered at Gertrude Contemporary in Melbourne in March 2014.[7] Composer Andrew Clarke created original audio for the piece and continues to collaborate with Johnson and Ward.

The first virtual reality work created by Johnson, Ward, and Clarke, Ixian Gate, premiered in 2015 as the centerpiece of Johnson's solo exhibition, WURM HAUS, at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.[4]

Johnson participated in the Oculus Rift Launchpad Program at Facebook HQ in May 2016.

Johnson and Ward then began creating a series of five HD video animations, each of which translated a single drawing by Johnson into "richly rendered 3-dimensional animations, digitally extrapolating Johnson's planar surfaces into tonally modelled architectures and bodies."[8] Drawings translated in this series (which also serve as the respective names of the collaborative videos) are Worldweb Allthing (2017), Transkin Simulator (2017), Whilst In Genuflect (2017), Milxyz Wae (2017), and Worldken (2017).

In 2017, the installation piece WHOL WHY WURLD collected these five videos and displayed them on five HD televisions mounted on poles around the perimeter of a painted decagon platform. The videos played on a continuous loop. WHOL WHY WURLD premiered at The National 2017 at Carriageworks in Sydney. An edition of WWW was acquired in 2018 by Buxton Contemporary in Melbourne and presented as part of the museum's inaugural The shape of things to come exhibition.[9] WHOL WHY WURLD was a finalist for the 2018 Walters Prize.[10]

Both Ixian Gate and Whol Why Wurld were featured in Johnson's first solo exhibition in the United States, Everything not saved will be lost, in September 2017 at Jack Hanley Gallery. The show was reviewed in the November 2017 edition of ArtForum magazine.[11]

In May 2017, Johnson and Ward received a commission from the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra) for a major new virtual reality work as part of their Balnaves Contemporary Intervention Series. Five new VR pieces premiered as part of Terminus, Johnson and Ward's exhibition at the NGA opening 4 May 2018.[12] In an interview in Ocula Magazine, Johnson discussed how her drawing practice translated to her work in VR, as a means to catapult the viewer 'to a different planet entirely.'[13]

• Neon Meat Dream, Nanzuka Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2019[16]
• Panspermia, Sing Omega, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2019[17]
• Terminus (w/ Simon Ward), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2018
• Auckland Art Fair, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2018
• Everything not saved will be lost, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2017[18]
• Jess Johnson at CLIFT, presented by FOUR A.M, San Francisco, CA, 2017
• Hex Nemesis, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia, 2017[19]
• Chondrule Terminus (w/ Andrew Clarke), Dark Mofo: Welcome Stranger, Tasmania, Australia, 2017
• Darren Knight Gallery, Discoveries Section, Art Basel, Hong Kong, 2016
• Eclectrc Panoptic, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2017
• Wurm Haus, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 2015
• Sensorium Chamber, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2015
• Endless Future Terror Forever, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2015
• Gertrude Edition 2015, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia, 2015
• Electric Affinity: Jess Johnson/Tina Havelock Stevens, Alaska Projects, Sydney, Australia, 2015
• Ratholes in the Babylon of Information, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, 2014
• Gamma World, Vivid Festival, MCA Facade, Sydney, Australia, 2014
• Mnemonic Pulse, Gertrude Contemporary Studio 12, Melbourne, Australia, 2014