Past --> Kathleen Johnson - "Mont Blanc and Other Mountains of Madness" 9/06 - 10/06

Above: "Mont Blanc (Pool 8.3)", 2003-2006
89" x 30.5", Chromogenic print on Sintra, Edition of 3
Much wider image

"I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice caps. And I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.
Doubt of the real facts, as I must reveal them, is inevitable; yet, if I suppressed what will seem extravagant and incredible, there would be nothing left. The hitherto withheld photographs, both ordinary and aerial, will count in my favor, for they are damnably vivid and graphic. Still, they will be doubted because of the great lengths to which clever fakery can be carried. The ink drawings, of course, will be jeered at as obvious impostures, notwithstanding a strangeness of technique which art experts ought to remark and puzzle over." H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness", 1931.

Kathleen Johnson

Johnson's work investigates fantastic landscapes, both real and imagined, based on the miraculous yet overlooked spaces of everyday life. The artist’s projects explore realms that easily straddle the plausible and the incredible. Her work is a hallucinatory vision of what might be present in the most ordinary of spaces. Awakening us to the wondrous properties of these quotidian worlds, Johnson's ongoing Pools photographic series imagines a lost Atlantis architecture in which Lovecraftian ice mountains emerge from the floor of the common and unsuspecting Southern Californian back yard swimming pool. Replacing the pool steps and creating its own scale, perspective and geometry, the large-scale Mont Blanc at David Patton Los Angeles captured the new hybrid sculptural form at a distinct time signature in its formation, revealing subtle changes in light and surface pattern. Mont Blanc was paired with a fragile sister sculpture of elemental wonder (see below), which was on display during the opening on Friday the 8th only, a fitting tribute to summer's end. Full press release.pdf

Edition

Johnson also produced a small edition for the project. The studio image captures the entire 8-hour melting process of the preliminary ice castle that served as a model for the show’s main sculpture. Ghostly traces are registered as the architectural form slowly vanishes. The edition is limited to 8 signed and numbered prints that are available through our editions pages.


"Ice Castle Time Signature 1"
2005
Edition of 8
$200 ea.

Related works

The piece shown, "Mont Blanc (Pool 8.3)", actually has several cousins, and in the past it has been shown alongside two varients on the theme, each piece riffing, matching and distorting different angles and views of its dreamy subject. As a trio, Pools 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 become even more hallucinatory, a first cursory glance suggests identical triplets with second looks determining that the pieces are in fact more fraternal in relationship. "Pool 9" and "Pool 11" are radically different views of a similar vibratory and fantastic realm. All of these related works are produced in an edition of three as well, with the last prints still available. Just below find links to representations of these additional works. Feel free to contact the gallery regarding them.

Larger Images
Pool 8.1
Pool 8.2
Pool 9
Pool 11 (!!)

About the artist

Johnson received a BFA from Otis Art Institute and an MFA from the University of Southern California. Recent projects include a solo exhibition at Lucas Schoormans Gallery, NY; The Minded Swarm at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; and a multi-year project with Taalman Koch Architecture for High Desert Test Sites. Upcoming projects include a photographic landscape survey based on her 2004 residency at the Mars Desert Research Station, a Mars analog site in Southern Utah.

David Patton
Los Angeles

info (at) davidpattonlosangeles (dot) com