Recent Work by Richard Fairfield and Todd Johnson:
An Appreciation
Printmakers and ceramists are among the most patient and flexible of artists. They choose time-intensive media in which artworks evolve in steps, following the completion of successive procedures. To create significant art, they must be sensitive to the physical properties of their chosen materials and in control of the technical aspects. They must learn to recognize the potential of nascent marks and forms, when to build on them, alter them, or leave them alone.
In Richard Fairfield's recent screen prints and Todd Johnson's new clay sculptures, simplicity is emphasized. By eliminating descriptive and utilitarian concerns the artists force viewers to concentrate on what is seen. Their styles are rooted in the interplay between reason and fantasy but their works are non-specific in reference. Rather than revealing particular subjects, they have evocative power, both for their creators and the viewers.
This new work has an edge and is predicated on the affirmation of art as art. Fairfield's prints and Johnson's sculptures, while minimal in their simple visual language and lack of illusion, are, at the same time, expansive in their unpredictability and vitality. Both artists take their cues from how their materials look and what they suggest. Process leads to invention, conveying a sense of animation. Kept simple, this art relies on subtle transformations of the obvious--nuances of feelings and thoughts--that the viewer can share only through prolonged experience. Like conjurers, Fairfield and Johnson have the power to invoke apparitions and metamorphose forms.
Richard Fairfield's screen prints exceed what one usually associates with graphic art because their thickly inked, subtly colored surfaces are palpable, more like reliefs than strictly pictorial art. Inks, often mixed with foreign matter like sand, baking soda, vermiculite, even red Georgia dirt, ooze through the screens and are allowed to crack. An admirer of the expressive textures in works by Rouault, Dubuffet, and Tapies, Fairfield delights in making tactile surfaces and accepts that, in the course of creating his work, he has relinquished total control: "Some things continue to crack for quite awhile. It just pleases me to see these surfaces that I had something to do with, but not totally," The rich textures are enhanced by visual gestures in the ground, suggestive of trajectories and pathways, and by playful snake-like forms that appear intermittently in relief or as ghostly traces on the surface where ink did not adhere. Movements appear to be furtive, easily overlooked by all but those who take the time to look. Characteristic of Fairfield's work, even the newest pieces in the show, the very large monochromes, are evocative of what might be seen under a microscope.
Todd Johnson's newest work expands upon his longstanding interest in the mainstay of traditional ceramic art--the cup. Far from being truly functional vessels or purely aesthetic objects in the manner of Kenneth Price, Johnson's cups twist and turn beyond their containing walls, opening up to the space. Frequently incomplete, sideways, or upside down, they spill into space with more dynamism than small sculpture would be expected to yield. Solid or hollow, they are transformed into free-form masses of clay that are reminiscent of geological formations, like natural arches, mesas, and valleys. When viewed in the round rather than from a fixed vantage point, the works provide surprising vistas of masses and spaces, of generalized natural configurations juxtaposed with clearly recognizable portions of cups. Johnson acknowledges that living in Montana and Texas had an impact on his work and sees his cups as "solitary figures" trapped in landscapes, personal references to his isolation: "I feel at odds with much of what one encounters these days as art. Not being polemical and still making objects makes me feel like an outsider. Consequently the cups became 'autobiographical,'...they began to represent my everyday life, concerns and thinking."
To fully appreciate this work, one must experience it on its own terms and not impose standards based on previous expectations. To view these pieces quickly or superficially would be to miss the point.
Richard Rubenfeld, Ph.D
Professor, Art Department
Eastern Michigan University
In Richard Fairfield's recent screen prints and Todd Johnson's new clay sculptures, simplicity is emphasized. By eliminating descriptive and utilitarian concerns the artists force viewers to concentrate on what is seen. Their styles are rooted in the interplay between reason and fantasy but their works are non-specific in reference. Rather than revealing particular subjects, they have evocative power, both for their creators and the viewers.
This new work has an edge and is predicated on the affirmation of art as art. Fairfield's prints and Johnson's sculptures, while minimal in their simple visual language and lack of illusion, are, at the same time, expansive in their unpredictability and vitality. Both artists take their cues from how their materials look and what they suggest. Process leads to invention, conveying a sense of animation. Kept simple, this art relies on subtle transformations of the obvious--nuances of feelings and thoughts--that the viewer can share only through prolonged experience. Like conjurers, Fairfield and Johnson have the power to invoke apparitions and metamorphose forms.
Richard Fairfield's screen prints exceed what one usually associates with graphic art because their thickly inked, subtly colored surfaces are palpable, more like reliefs than strictly pictorial art. Inks, often mixed with foreign matter like sand, baking soda, vermiculite, even red Georgia dirt, ooze through the screens and are allowed to crack. An admirer of the expressive textures in works by Rouault, Dubuffet, and Tapies, Fairfield delights in making tactile surfaces and accepts that, in the course of creating his work, he has relinquished total control: "Some things continue to crack for quite awhile. It just pleases me to see these surfaces that I had something to do with, but not totally," The rich textures are enhanced by visual gestures in the ground, suggestive of trajectories and pathways, and by playful snake-like forms that appear intermittently in relief or as ghostly traces on the surface where ink did not adhere. Movements appear to be furtive, easily overlooked by all but those who take the time to look. Characteristic of Fairfield's work, even the newest pieces in the show, the very large monochromes, are evocative of what might be seen under a microscope.
Todd Johnson's newest work expands upon his longstanding interest in the mainstay of traditional ceramic art--the cup. Far from being truly functional vessels or purely aesthetic objects in the manner of Kenneth Price, Johnson's cups twist and turn beyond their containing walls, opening up to the space. Frequently incomplete, sideways, or upside down, they spill into space with more dynamism than small sculpture would be expected to yield. Solid or hollow, they are transformed into free-form masses of clay that are reminiscent of geological formations, like natural arches, mesas, and valleys. When viewed in the round rather than from a fixed vantage point, the works provide surprising vistas of masses and spaces, of generalized natural configurations juxtaposed with clearly recognizable portions of cups. Johnson acknowledges that living in Montana and Texas had an impact on his work and sees his cups as "solitary figures" trapped in landscapes, personal references to his isolation: "I feel at odds with much of what one encounters these days as art. Not being polemical and still making objects makes me feel like an outsider. Consequently the cups became 'autobiographical,'...they began to represent my everyday life, concerns and thinking."
To fully appreciate this work, one must experience it on its own terms and not impose standards based on previous expectations. To view these pieces quickly or superficially would be to miss the point.
Richard Rubenfeld, Ph.D
Professor, Art Department
Eastern Michigan University