Jess Johnson

Jess Johnson (born 1979) is a New York-based New Zealand contemporary artist who works in drawing, installation, animation, and virtual reality. Her drawings depict alternative realms while her collaborations with Simon Ward and Andrew Clarke adapt the world of her drawings into video animations and virtual reality.

Early life and education Jess Johnson was born in Tauranga, New Zealand in 1979. She grew up in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand and attended University of Canterbury in Christchurch from 1997 to 2001, where she earned a BFA.

Career In 2004 she moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she co-founded and ran Hell Gallery from 2008 to 2011. She began exhibiting her work in group and solo shows throughout Australia and New Zealand, including shows at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

In 2016 she relocated permanently to New York City after participating in the Australia Council's Greene Street residency in SoHo.

Works

Drawings

Johnson's drawings typically include bold colours, 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. 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."

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.

Animation and virtual reality

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. 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 centrepiece of Johnson's solo exhibition, WURM HAUS, at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Johnson and Ward then began creating a series of five HD video animations, each of which translated a single drawing by Johnson. In 2017, these videos premiered at The National 2017 at Carriageworks in Sydney as the installation piece WHOL WHY WURLD. The work was a finalist for the 2018 Walters Prize.

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 the 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.

Influences

Johnson has identified a wide range of influences including the ideas of Terence McKenna; Frank Herbert's Dune and the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky; the dystopian novel Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban; early video games; and comics. Neon Meat Dream, Nanzuka Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2019 Panspermia, Sing Omega, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY, 2019 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 Jess Johnson at CLIFT, presented by FOUR A.M, San Francisco, CA, 2017 Hex Nemesis, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia, 2017 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

Awards John McCaughey Memorial Prize, acquisitive commission for National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, 2013

Collections

Jess Johnson's works are held in the following permanent collections: Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (3 works) James Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, New Zealand (2 works) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia Museum of Contemporary Art, NSW Australia (1 work) Monash University Museum of Art, VIC Australia (3 works) Michael Buxton Collection] Melbourne, Australia (3 works) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (14 works) Artbank, NSW Australia (2 works)