Bio
Henry was born on January 26, 1996 in Denver, Colorado, USA. Central elements in Henry's work are line, shape, and composition. His primary mediums include acrylic paint, acrylic ink, color pencil, and drafting pens. Some of Henry's most important influences are: composition and contrast from David Lynch's Eraserhead, Paul Gauguin's language of color and movement, and Paul Manship's treatment of anatomy. Major themes in Henry's work include but are not limited to: dreams, the sacred and profane, mental illness, and existentialism.
"Commit the line... don't fear it.", Henry R Johnson
Artist Statment, Hobo Wizard.
The “Hobo Wizard” is the culmination of the best of all that I have thought, done, and learned throughout my BFA program. My studies have led me to new worldviews and set my artistic practice upon new impulses. Over these last four years my artistic practice has been refined both in medium and technique, and throughout this adventure I have found a greater appreciation for traditional media and found the beautiful in the sublimity of the brush stroke.
The Hobo Wizard is a symbolic character, an archetype, that embodies the essence of all that I have sought to do.
Employing this representation of myself in my drawings, I hope to build an intertext between the things I imagine. With this context in mind, I invite the viewer to embark with me on an investigation of the mind. Contemplate the primordial structures of the world and consider: what is history? what is life? what is the heart and what does it feel? These are the questions that have guided this series. Looking back, it is apparent to me that in this project I have found higher ideals: the pursuit of wisdom and a connection with the divine.
Henry R Johnson, BFA Drawing/Illustration, 2019.