Something to smile about: Martin Johnson looks through his “Unis 39” 73 by 31 by 33 inches, wire, paint, string and canvas (Photo by Amie Oliver)
The Glavé Kocen Gallery presentation of new work by Martin Johnson may spring you from the winter’s grey glumness. The show is a party, parade and an exhibit inside an exhibit. It’s "Martin Johnson Presents Look See Awe Sum," up through this week and culminating in an artist’s talk at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23.
B.J. Kocen, the co-director of the gallery, reflects on Johnson’s approach and massive body of work: “His Dada/Outsider combo oeuvre carries a sense of humor, and I really relate to carrying a seed of joy in my pocket. He’s got a mountain of seeds, and we wanted to at least exhibit a cross section of that passionate output.”
"Look See" is boisterous and rambunctious. It is, the gallerists write, “a metropolis of sculpture and painting.” You don’t as much walk through but allow the colors and energy to wash over you. There’s more going on here than a good time, however, though it is that. This is not cool abstraction (though there is abstraction), but as occurs at many social occasions, there are side discussions and conversations about serious matters before the laughter resumes. You'll need to stand close to overhear the juicy stuff.
“We refer to the gallery sometimes as a sandbox to play in,” Kocen explains. “He wanted to go big, and we didn’t want to stand in his way.”
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Photo courtesy David Hale Photography
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Photo by Harry Kollatz Jr.
Occupying the center of the gallery is a collection of wire and metal sculptures that resemble buildings or figures or flora or all of the above. On the walls the googly eyes embedded in a number of the paintings stare out comically, as though amused by the whole scene.
Detail from "She's Cosmic," 60 by 48 inches, wire, acrylic, oil, polymer and found mixed media on canvas (Photo by Harry Kollatz Jr.)
In one quieter corner, toward the front, is "She's Cosmic," which from at a distance resembles an image taken by a camera pointed at deep space, with whirling galaxies and swirling stars. Amid all this, a pair of peepers peer out, as though searching for intelligent life — or is the critter floating around out there, looking for home the long way around?
Johnson’s work is on display in more than 30 museums, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He drew the attention of the renowned Herb and Dorothy Vogel, he a postal worker and she a librarian, who filled their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with an astonishing collection of modern art. Toward the end of their lives, they sent their painstakingly assembled collection around to each state in the union, as described in the documentary “Herb & Dorothy 50 x 50.”
Meanwhile, Kocen and Jennifer Glave — in their 15th year of curating shows, in this venue and elsewhere — are hosting another big exhibition running March 1-30, “Hung Juried,” which resulted from an open call for artists who’d not shown before at the gallery. Some are from the region, but submissions came from New York and Ohio. From 200 possibilities through a wide range of disciplines and media, the duo selected 50. At the opening reception of “Hung Juried,” one artist will be rewarded an exhibit and full representation of the gallery. Now, that should be something to see.
