Chuck Johnson

Memphis-native Chuck Johnson received his Bachelor of Art in Painting and Drawing from Memphis State University in 1975. Thereafter, Johnson served in the Army, stationed in Germany; he later returned to Memphis to earn his Masters in Painting and Art History from Memphis State University. Following his jobs as Curator of Education at Brooks Art Gallery and a temporary teacher at Rhodes College early in his career, Johnson determined to move to Washington, D.C., where he was employed as a Visual Information Specialist at the Pentagon. Though busy with this career, Johnson continued to devote time to creating art, renting studios and spare rooms in the city while also pursuing involvement in artistic communities. During his time in D.C., Johnson received honors including a Grant for Painting from the District of Columbia Arts Commission in 1995. After spending over two decades at the Pentagon, Johnson moved back to Memphis in 2003 to follow his ambitions of working as an artist full-time. Since his return to his hometown, Johnson has taught courses at Memphis College of Art and the University of Memphis, from where he has recently retired, to dedicate his time to his creations, art collections, bonsai garden, and friendships. An artist for all his life, Johnson, has evolved and modified his style, gradually transitioning from neo-expressionism to botanical and geometric abstractions. Regarding his process and perspective, Chuck explains: “I am interested in an approach to art making that explores the often-conflicted relationship between the decorative traditions in geometric patterns found in other cultures and western modernism. However, the recent paintings avoid culturally specific subject matter in favor of a more elusive pictorial terrain of contemporary abstraction, inasmuch, my attempts to reflect a broader generational curiosity where the familiar and unfamiliar converge. There is a view about art that seems intractably fixed in tradition and history. However, counter to this view is another mindset that understands art very differently. This way of seeing works of contemporary art is not so much new as simply different. As a catalyst for imagination, speculation and unscripted modes of knowing, I find art to be extremely useful and necessary to the health and well-being of society. However, as we know, health is a relative term based on whether we experience it ourselves as good, moderate or failing. The relationship between our spiritual well-being, physical bodies and our state of mind is paramount – so it should be with our approach to art.”