Erick Johnson
"Parallelogram Paintings" Statement
Repetition and iteration. Through the use of a recurring device, a calligraphic parallelogram, I build a mesh of woven loops and bands, stretched and blurred horizontally, as if seen from a fast moving vehicle. The space is compressed, the color is urban, the process direct. The iterations imply change.
In this way, I investigate how relationships of rhythm, form and color can convey lived experience and emotion. I work in series but each work creates new problems. I seek balance, which is associated with harmony, but the process of approximating balance and harmony, (in my experience) is very unstable and unpredictable.
How do the rhythms, forms and colors interact? What effect do they have? I believe they can be powerful, but this can never be answered definitively. The painting can be the same but I am not. I re-work it to match these changes. In this way, there is an ebb and flow of process that argues for freedom yet grounds me in this world.
Polyphase Variation II/framed, 2020, Oil on paper, 30 x 22 inches
Polyphase Variation I, 2020, Oil on paper, 30 x 22 inches
Polyphase Variation III, 2020, Oil on paper, 20 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches
Polyphase Variation IV, 2020, Oil on paper, 20 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches
Polyphase Variation VI, 2020, Oil on paper, 20 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches
Polyphase Variation VII, 2020, Oil on paper, 20 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches