exhibitions

Selected Works

Press

Mindy Solomon Gallery
124 2nd Ave. NE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701

ph 727.502.0852

Gallery Hours

Wed-Sat: 11am - 5pm

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: By Appointment

Curator’s Statement: The World According to Bart

"Painting and sculpture are very archaic forms. It's the only thing left in our industrial society where an individual alone can make something with not just his own hands, but brains, imagination, heart maybe." -- Philip Guston

"... save yourself from... general themes and seek those which your own everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows and desires, passing thoughts and the belief in some sort of beauty--describe all these with loving, quiet, humble sincerity, and use, to express yourself, the things in your environment, the images from your dreams, and the objects of your memory."
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

My first encounter with the work of Bart Johnson came in the form of a simple vase. The shape itself was nothing unusual, however the drawings that embellished the surface were so bold and full of narrative personality, I could not stop studying it; I admired the intricacies of the story unfolding at every angle. Each character had an unearthly quality - part creature, part human - but completely expressed in a way that spoke of unknown terrors and emotion. I felt compelled to know more about his art.

It wasn’t easy to locate him as he operates under the radar, but I suspect after this exhibition his obscurity will be somewhat lessened amongst those that value pure artistry and narrative visual storytelling. He is an artist’s artist who can create images on any surface. His intellect and intuitive nature knows no bounds; he is unencumbered by traditions and the status quo. Johnson is one of the most intelligent and inquisitive artists I have met. He is an avid reader on a wide range of subjects and is extremely sensitive as well as deeply private; he is a visionary who is compelled to work long hours daily.

Our first conversation lasted more than two hours. We discussed dreams and fantasy. I referenced Bosch and Brueghel, the completeness of their worlds on the two dimensional surface, the evidence of good and evil played out in a myriad of characters that only pretend to be people. Bart discussed his art historical references coupled with a highly refined aesthetic bordering on obsessive. Bart doesn’t sleep much. His studio is a wonderland of art; flat files crammed with drawings, stacks of paintings, and shelves of sculpture, magnificently inventive and playful. Johnson doesn’t view himself as a ceramic artist, rather, a person who uses clay as a vehicle to tell his ongoing personal experiences. It is Bart’s world, or rather, the world according to Bart.