Peter Sloterdijk Portrait

September 05, 2014  /  Michael J. Johnson

I was recently commissioned to paint a portrait of Peter Sloterdijk, a contemporary German philosopher, in the "Cage" space of one of my earlier paintings of Michel Foucault. The title for this one, as of now, is "Poetics of Space", a phrase taken from Sloterdijk. I tried incorporating images and artwork that Sloterdijk uses in his writing - on the desk are scattered drawings that appear in his book "Bubbles" or "Spheres I" - the first installment of his magnum opus trilogy. The painting is an attempt to engage with Sloterdijk's concepts and make them visible and recognizable - but the painting was made to be interesting to someone who has never read him before as well. 

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Painting the Stone Pony

July 11, 2014  /  Michael J. Johnson

This week, I started painting the outside of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. It’s a big project, the Pony was the first stage, next I’ll be painting “The Stone Pony” font and text across a new concrete wall, about 50-feet wide. I’ll do another post when the project is all finished.

I’m using a projector to project the digital files of the Pony and the Font, so I had to begin at night. The texture on this wall is sort of insane, not to be underestimated, I had to use a pretty small brush to get the appearance of a straight line across all the uneven textures and surfaces. The projector is necessary for making the Pony this large and keeping it coherent across the jutting out bricks and different textures of the three different surfaces.

I had my brother with me helping out, keeping an eye and hanging around. We got a lot of good reactions from people driving by or walking down the sidewalk. It was an intense night of painting, incredibly tedious, but completely rewarding – I’m proud of the way it came out.

Before Painting

Before Painting

Projecting the Image on the wall and doing the initial trace

Projecting the Image on the wall and doing the initial trace

At the end of night one - around 1:30 am - my brother snapped this pic

At the end of night one - around 1:30 am - my brother snapped this pic

Day two touch ups

Day two touch ups

Finished Pony

Finished Pony

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Events in spring 2015

May 31, 2014  /  Michael J. Johnson

Two quick updates for the future:

1. My NJ Emerging Artists solo exhibition will begin May 29th, 2015 - going to be a powerful show with a coherent body of grid paintings.

2.  Art Alliance in Red Bank, NJ  selected me to be the window artist for the month of April - I'm excited at the opportunity and honored that they thought of me - I will also be judging the April Exhibition at the Art Alliance - thank you to Art Alliance for reaching out - timing could not be better with the NJEAS exhibition in the following month. 

Deep Sea (Detail)

Deep Sea (Detail)



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New Grid Painting - Pollux & Castor (Gemini)

May 19, 2014  /  Michael J. Johnson

A painting of the Gemini constellation in the night sky, the twins Pollux and Castor.

I’m interested in exploring the way order is imposed on an otherwise vast continuity – in this case the chaos of the night sky becomes coherent with representations capable of repeated recognition in the constellations. Stars become unique and brought into a relation with other stars selectively. It’s interesting to me that the constellations are only one of a seemingly infinite combination of relations between the stars, and yet, once they are mapped and recorded they each become capable of a narrative.

The coherence of the constellations is an illusion that occurs when the vast continuity of the sky is filtered through human consciousness from earth’s vantage point. In thinking about ways to use the grid artistically, the constellations seem to lend themselves as both a revealing theoretical point, as well as a vision of something that can be beautiful. There are two great themes contained in this idea: light vs. dark and chaos vs order.

This painting was my first attempt, I’m going to go through many more constellations, maybe combine some on larger canvases. Pollux and Castor seemed an appropriate place to begin, with the multiplied identity of the twins.

I suppose these paintings are made from the perspective of order, or from the perspective of consciousness – I think what becomes just as important is all that is left out – the unfurling chaos that does not make its way into the repeatable form of the constellation. The constellation is all the grid can see.

The constellations illuminate the human history of creating narratives on earth.

Pollux & Castor (Gemini) - 20" x 26" - Oil on Canvas - 2014 - Michael Burris Johnson

Pollux & Castor (Gemini) - 20" x 26" - Oil on Canvas - 2014 - Michael Burris Johnson


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New Jersey Emerging Artist Series

May 13, 2014  /  Michael J. Johnson

I was just awarded a solo show as part of the New Jersey Emerging Artists Series for 2014-2015. It will be an exhibition of all my grid paintings. Scheduling hasn't been posted yet, so more to come - but I'm very happy, I threw just about every ounce of my sorcery at achieving this goal, it was a very intense winter leading up to the submission. I'll post the dates once I know them...

Pale Composition 

Pale Composition 



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