Kate Johnson

katejohnsonart.com | @katejohnsonartist

Refracting the moment: Kate Johnson’s geometric abstractions are culled from media images of the sky during the California wildfires.

Kate Johnson Artist Statement:

Our limits keep reducing while our thresholds keep expanding.  First it was stay at home orders.  Then it was, for me, wearing a mask while giving birth to my daughter.  Then it was just get through the summer.  Then it was just get through the year.  And then California started burning.  And burning.  And burning.  The air was toxic and the skies were dark and orange and yellow and grey and not blue.  After quarantining for months, we retreated further indoors.  The fight or flight urges are held captive in this moment.  Desires are restrained and emotions are further cornered and brushed away as the ever enduring feeling of this moment in 2020 pervades.  Can it get worse?  Will it get better?  For this work I used images from various news sites that captured the sky in California during the wildfires.  I collaged these images together into geometric forms to reflect the constant juxtaposition of despair and hope in these times.  They are simple optical illusions that flip in and out depending on the eye or desire of the viewer.  They can flip into a feeling of being trapped in a corner or imploding or flip outwards into a state of growth and yearning.  I know I personally flip between these two feelings throughout the days endlessly inside my home. 

Checklist:

Untitled photographic series, Collaged Photographs, 12” x 12”, 2020, price upon request