Bio

Although Gary Johnson has traveled from Altoona to the Tar Heel state, he credits Buckroe Beach as his true artistic home. The roaring surf, miles of pearly beaches and vibrant nightlife awakened his photo-Muse, and nothing since has been safe from his fractured insight and irreverent lens.

Throughout the years he has captured the wacky world of the decadent decades of the past with a cast of twisted teenagers, perverted priests, bathing beauties, mock movie stars, fairies, and families in distress. These unflinching  parodies reveal an America on a self-indulgent rampage.

After Gary  graduated with a degree in Commercial Art and Design from Richmond Professional Institute [now Virginia Commonwealth University] in 1965, he enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed at Langley Air Force Base. It was destiny. Now a resident of Richmond, he continues to aim his camera at the kinks and quirks of today’s world that he views with an intellectual sarcasm.

Gary has won top awards in such major shows as the Virginia Beach Boardwalk Show, Richmond’s June Jubilee, and Williamsburg’s Occasion for the Arts. He was also featured in a one-man show at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In the 80’s his American Cheese Greeting Cards were flying off the shelves from New York to the Netherlands and his work has also appeared in National Lampoon and American Photographer magazines.