Mirrored - Joey Johnston

Joey Johnston -

The overarching theme of my artworks for my senior exhibition is my own personal experience as a human being. A lot of my art is inspired by how I feel, what is going on around me, who I am and finding out who I want to be. My goal for my art is to show people a little part of who I am and what I go through as a person. While a lot of my artwork is very personal to me, I also want it to be relatable, which is why I try to cover broader experiences.

Throughout my works, I want to display my emotional state over the past two years. It’s similar to my own personal memoir, showcasing the ups and downs of emotions that I often experience. The Collector and Same but Different but Same showcase a high in my life, where I was figuring out who I was and accepting who I was and my relation to the people around me. The Collector focuses on accepting who I am, but also showcases my original style at the time. Same but Different but Same illustrates my relation to other people through Surrealism, using juxtaposition to make everyone look different, but, when looking closely, it’s clear each person has some similarities. Limbo also examines a similar theme of acceptance using the Surrealist movement. Limbo takes inspiration from a specific memory I have, while using the Surrealist technique of tapping into the subconscious mind to create an effect that is slightly distorted and off-putting. While this piece comes from a better place, it still has some darker themes of holding onto memories, no matter how much has changed. Overthinking with Demons tackles the darker side of dealing with my identity and the whirlwind effect it has on my life. This darker theme is directly contrasted with the rainbow core color scheme, which allows the eye to be drawn to the center of the canvas. Narcissus’s Sister, while it has a darker theme, swings back up to a happier emotion, pride. I chose a brighter color scheme, with royal blues and a strong yellow, which is associated with pride and royalty. For the top image, it elevates the pose, while the bottom image, the colors contrast with the pose and the meaning, the heavier, depressing anxiety that goes with feeling immense pride. The Eldritch Horror pieces demonstrate a major low of emotion. Each piece represents a darker version of who I am, using more muted tones, which adds to the uneasy feeling. The darker colors mixed with the Lovecraftian Horror aesthetic, giving a truly monstrous element to, what I see as, my flaws. Ode to the Cosmos brings it back up to an emotional medium, since the piece looks darker, but it shows how I perceive one of my favorite classical songs, Fur Elise. I see it as a cosmic wonder, while it reminds me of a darker time, is something I can look back fondly on. So, I wanted to incorporate that element of bright colors with a more galaxy, dark theme.

Throughout a lot of my work, I’m constantly examining myself and who I am. I use my art as an outlet as a way to express myself and my emotions. Each piece selected for this exhibition heavily ties into what I was feeling at the time, who I was, and what I was comfortable with in terms of mediums and styles. But, much like emotion, I don’t want my pieces to be separated by their underlying themes, but I want them to be unified by their overarching theme, being my art. I wanted to display them in a more linear fashion, with my earlier artworks two the right, with the darker themes in the middle, then the emotional medium piece at the end, showing the evening out of my emotions throughout the year. While dealing with emotions isn’t linear, since these pieces are my memoir, I want to portray it in a more linear fashion. I think this ties my works together nicely, completing my memoir of highschool.

The Collector, acrylic paint on canvas, 40.64cm x 50.8cm

The legend of The Collector was a henchman of death who watched over graveyards, collecting unwanted souls and safely guiding them to the other side. He roams the earth, collecting souls and other unwanted objects. I chose The Collector for my piece because I see his legend as an analogy for life. Our lives are memories that we collect, unwanted or not. We collect everything, from our demons to our favorite childhood memories.

Limbo, acrylic paint on canvas, 45.72cm x 45.72cm

Limbo is kind of a personal piece for me. It takes after the idea that limbo is tailored to the specific person, recreating a personal place, whether it's disturbing or not is up for interpretation. The place this picture was modeled after is very special to me since I spent a lot of my childhood there. I added the bright colors which are exaggerated and made the people being slightly out of focus. This piece looks at the idea of warped memories and how things aren't always what we remember.

Same but Different but Same, acrylic paint on canvas, 40.64cm x 50.8cm

I was heavily inspired by the dreamlike state of the surrealist movement. For each character, I looked at juxtaposition and replaced the heads of the characters with inanimate objects. This idea came from a friend, which I then developed into the full piece. I want this piece to be about everything looking extremely different, but upon closer look, are actually more related than they seem at first glance. And I feel surrealism was the perfect art movement to look to for this meaning.

Overthinking with Demons, acrylic paint and alcohol markers on sketch paper and canvas, 40.64cm x 50.8cm

With this piece, I wanted to experiment with combining different mediums, while also using certain mediums in an unconventional way. I cut the canvas open with a penknife because I wanted a window-like opening, to see the drawing in the background in a different light. This piece was inspired by the feeling of trying to figure out who you are. It's frustrating and can leave you feeling confused and disoriented. Plus the different demons around the canvas, as emotions you feel during that time.

Narcissus’s Sister, alcohol markers and watercolor paint on watercolor paper, 45.72cm x 60.96cm

In this piece, I wanted to focus on the dual feeling of feeling like a literal god while also feeling like you're not good enough. I wanted to portray this through the poses, having one woman being posed very open and exaggerated, while the other is very small and closed off. This idea originated from the song "God is She" by In This Moment and the name followed suit with the idea of being seen as a narcissus, with that not being the case. Like being associated with a sibling who's known for it.

Ode to the Cosmos, spray paint and acrylic paint on canvas, 15.2cm x 20.3cm

This piece was inspired by Fur Elise by Beethoven, which has a very important place in my heart. It reminds me of Starry Night by Van Gogh and makes me think of celestial movement and the stars. I wanted to incorporate that childlike wonder I feel when listening to the song, while also incorporating the immense feelings it gives me. While it fills me with childlike wonder, it also makes me feel sad and lost, which is what I wanted to show in the pose of the focal point.

Eldritch Horror Monsters, watercolor paint and acrylic paint on watercolor paper, 28cm x 38cm

This piece examines many of the personal issues I deal with and turns them into monsters. The issues depicted are anxiety, fear of the unknown, intrusive thoughts, and self harm. While these are heavy topics, I wanted to create something that tangibles how I feel in a disturbing matter. With the use of water color, I was able to make a lot of the colors muted, so it feels more creepy, fitting the way I see a lot of these issues.