Tokyo, Japan— NANZUKA UNDERGROUND is thrilled to announce the upcoming solo exhibition “Navigation” by acclaimed artist Chris Johanson, running from September 13 (Friday) to October 13 (Sunday), 2024. This event marks Johanson’s inaugural exhibition with the gallery and his first solo show in Japan. Concurrently, a two-person exhibition featuring Johanson and his partner Johanna Jackson, titled “Sky In The Pot, Pot In The Sky, Unanswered Questions, Why Why Why?”, will be showcased at 3110NZ by LDH kitchen.
Chris Johanson, born in 1968 in San Jose, California, and now residing in Los Angeles, spent his formative years immersed in skateboarding, drawing, publishing zines, performing music, and designing posters for bands. In the 1990s, he emerged as a pivotal figure in the Mission School art movement, collaborating with artists such as Barry McGee and Alicia McCarthy. This movement, based in San Francisco, celebrated street culture including skateboarding, surfing, and graffiti, as well as folk art. Johanson’s work has garnered international acclaim, featuring in prestigious exhibitions like “Since 2000: Printmaking Now” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2023, and “Within The River of Time Is My Mind” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2013.
Johanson’s art invites viewers to ponder fundamental themes such as simplicity, the primitive, human endeavors, emotional connections, memory, and life itself. His creative process, often likened to philosophical thought experiments, is characterized by repetitive practices resulting in unique and profound artworks.
For “Navigation,” Johanson presents a piece developed through a workshop he conducted with students at a school where a friend teaches. Together, they painted a cityscape on a recycled board crafted from a section of a skateboard ramp. The use of recycled materials is crucial for Johanson, emphasizing the narratives and relationships behind objects. However, his philosophy of “reuse” extends beyond materials. Johanson initiated work for this solo exhibition in Tokyo by revisiting and reexamining his memories and past artistic styles. The resulting piece, painted in a way that abstracts visual subjects, employs richly colorful surfaces reminiscent of children’s drawings, representing a reinterpretation of his 1990s style.
Exploring the interplay between unconscious sensation and spontaneous thought is also vital to Johanson’s creative process. His paintings on recycled fabric are vividly colorful, fantastical scenes where streamlined forms resembling plants, insects, and birds intermingle with human figures. These works, created without a predetermined image of completion, reflect the aesthetics of change born from nature’s randomness, human uncertainty, and their interactions.
This exhibition, conceived as an installation, will feature a series of works created over several months. “Navigation” depicts a person rowing a canoe as its central figure, eloquently expressing the fragility, preciousness, and mystery of human life through the canoe, sea, people, and surrounding environment. Complementing the installation are textiles and a table combining wood and ceramics created by Johanson’s partner, Johanna Jackson.
At 3110NZ by LDH kitchen, a focused two-person exhibition will showcase Johanna Jackson’s ceramic works, including pots, cups, sculptures, and palm-sized insects, centered on the theme of “Individual Collective Document of Living.” The exhibition aims to transform the space into a culmination of their creative efforts, synthesizing Jackson’s sculptures with Johanson’s vibrant paintings and drawings.
An opening reception attended by Chris Johanson will take place on September 13th (Friday) from 18:00 to 20:00 at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, offering attendees a unique opportunity to engage with the artist and his latest works.
