Talk

Darren Johnson
Talk, 2007
mixed media on canvas
Courtesy of the artist

Darren Johnson moved to Las Vegas after receiving his MFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. These paintings, which were all made while he was still in the Midwest, reflect the character of the people he saw around him in that specific regional milieu. “I depict the people whom I know, each with their own stories and shared struggles. One such struggle is the desperation to communicate with others in order to comfort our own feelings of alienation, emptiness, and lack of significance to the world,” he writes. He explains that areas of blank canvas are intended to suggest an atmosphere of dissociation and emotional distance. “Thematically these works are related by my concern and frustration with society’s preferred style of communication.” Johnson is currently the Gallery Services Manager for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District where he curates a continuous series of exhibitions across the District’s network of 15 galleries.

(DKS)