Casual Intimacy

Opening Reception    May 27th, 2023    4pm-6pm
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Show runs from -
May 27th, 2023 - July 29th, 2023
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(Click image for press kit)

​Artist - Douglas Johnson

Statement

There is a deliberateness to music and to dance: they can be about chaos, but they are not chaos. There is intention. My paintings are similar. We fly, we don't throw; we compose. The brush glides across the paper as a bow draws across a string. There is a note I am seeking, an essential note. I want you to feel it. I don't want you to care about me, I want you to feel the life in the painting painted from life. I want you to love life, love your lover, love yourself- to blush, to feel invigorated and inspired to chase your bliss. Believe this, and all your dreams and aspirations become possibilities. ​

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Biography

Douglas Johnson is a fine artist who has made Baltimore his home since 1987 when he began his studies at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Johnson lives to create with color and to paint from life. His work continues to explore new possibilities of water-based media: primarily watercolor, gouache and ink. He has recently begun working with watercolor paint made from genuine gemstones such as lapis lazuli, garnet, jade, and amethyst

Figures that have a living presence, landscapes that exude their seasons and  stretch out for miles, expressed in spare paintings made with an economy of swift gestural marks. It is this gymnastic precision in Johnson's brushwork and unbridled use of saturated color that make his paintings so recognizable.

American Artist Magazine has praised Johnson’s “provocative approach to watercolor, one that relies on shockingly vibrant colors [and] flowing strokes of transparent paint,” describing him as a “serious and well-informed” artist.

In addition to his accomplishments as a painter, he has been an active member of the ever-changing Baltimore theatre community as a writer, director, and producer of set designs for Annex Theater, Yellow Sign Theatre, Frith and Inle, Everyman Theater, Stillpointe Theatre, Single Carrot Theatre and the Baltimore Rock Opera Society. 

Johnson's experience in historic preservation includes work on the restoration of the Brumidi Corridors of the United States Capitol, of Baltimore's Basilica of the Assumption, and of Clifton Mansion, the former residence of Johns Hopkins.

Website - https://www.dougjohnsonart.com/​​

​Instagram - ​https://www.instagram.com/dougjohnsonart/

​Facebook - www.facebook.com/douglas.johnson3