David Edward Johnson
DISSOLUTION, 2023
Custom photography, found objects, acrylic, graphite, spray paint, crayon, paper, cardboard, and household on panel, 30 x 30 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Based in Skaneateles, NY, David Edward Johnson creates mixed media assemblages that address belief systems, the birth and death of the American Dream, and the effects of loss at a personal level. No Roses in December features a series of works in which Johnson explores his father’s diagnosis of and descent into dementia. Johnson pairs his own photographs of bleak West Texas vistas and abandoned adobe dwellings with abstract mixed media painting, vintage papers, found objects, and other ephemera as a way to evoke fragmented shards of memory that mimic his father’s state of mind. The series title references a poem by Geoffrey Anketell Studdert-Kennedy that was popularized in a speech about courage by Peter Pan author JM Barrie: “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” Without memories, we have no blooms in the chill of the December of life.
David Edward Johnson: No Roses in December is part of the Everson CNY Artist Initiative, an exhibition program that celebrates the multi-faceted talents of regional artists. The CNY Artist Initiative is made possible with support from Terry and Bill Delavan.
About the Artist
David Edward Johnson is a mixed media assemblage artist living and working in Skaneateles, NY. His work focuses on exploring belief systems, the birth and death of the American Dream, the nature and validity of desire, as well as identity and loss on a personal level. Johnson’s body of work lies at the intersection of the organic, the geometric, the iconic, the abstract, and the found, all of which inform his large-scale assemblage pieces that hover between mediums. He encapsulates his oeuvre in three words: abstraction, definition, and deconstruction.
David Edward Johnson
CONCLUSION, 2023
Custom photography, found objects, acrylic, graphite, spray paint, crayon, paper, cardboard, and household on panel, 30 x 30 inches
Courtesy of the artist
He has had works appear in juried art shows across the US, shown with selected galleries, has shown in several cities with The Other Art Fair, had work featured on the album art for multi-platinum-selling musical artist Andy Grammer, been chosen from over 100,000 artists to be featured in the Saatchi Art catalog, had work published in multiple art publications, and was selected for inclusion in the London Art Biennale.