OPENING AND GALLERY TALK

Reception: Thursday, March 10th 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Gallery Talk: 5:30pm - 6:00pm

Exhibition Dates: March 10 - April 7

Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop is proud to announce the opening of Steve Johnson's Flight Lessons.  This body of work plays with the social disparity between those with the power of flight and those who are grounded. Johnson has been captivated by the concept of flight since childhood, spending his time capturing, observing, and releasing birds much like a Darwinian naturalist.  This detailed, observational approach and curiosity formed the foundation of Johnson's delicate, yet energetic, style of draftsmanship. His grand social narrative unfolds with an anthropomorphic cast of chickadees and rats, heroic in all of their beauty and malice.

Steve Johnson's studio practice is based in drawing and painting; he works primarily in gray scale utilizing the warm and cool tones of canvas, graphite, gesso, and paint. Johnson's work explores the concept of the mock-heroic and the absurdity of everyday life; his graphic sensibility and strong marks take these themes to a monumental scale, reminiscent of painters such as Rubens and Turner. Johnson personifies emotional conflicts in the form of birds, rabbits, and horses.

Location: Blackburn 20|20, EFA 323 West 39th St, Fl 5

(between 8th and 9th Ave)

Gallery hours: By appointment.