Jeni Johnson (B1980) is a British contemporary painter who draws directly from her imagination and memory to depict imagery suggestive of a psychological inner landscape. Johnson’s paintings are characterised by a biomorphic style that oscillates between abstraction and figuration.
She holds a Masters in Fine Art (MA) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE) from Kingston University. She was awarded a bursary from the Cypriot Ministry of Culture to study at the Cyprus College of Art for a year after completing a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (BA) from Chichester University.
Johnson’s recent exhibitions include ‘A Room of One’s Own’, with Irving Gallery and 'Seeing Red' Chapel Arts, Andover. Her work is in private collections across the UK, the US and Europe.
Statement
My paintings are populated with signs and symbols, which are drawn from my imagination, my memory and my everyday life experience. I am open to finding motifs anywhere – at home, in a book, driving – in some ways, they find me.
I attach a personal narrative to the motifs, which is something of a catalyst for the act of painting, but which builds its own history within my wider body of work. The joy for me is placing the motifs and finding the unity between all parts of the painting.
My recent series, the Altar Paintings, is drawn from my interest in ancient signs and symbols that point to the existence of cultures centred around a goddess religion.
The viewer is invited to see these paintings as altars at the opening of a megalithic tomb, a place to worship the divine feminine energy in the context of our contemporary world.
I made the paintings with charcoal, chalk and clay foraged from the earth and processed to make pigments.These works are about letting the natural pigments speak for themselves, recognising the mother earth and allowing nature to have a voice.