Art Review: 'Nearly abstract' work organic in nature

Ring shapes, as in Indian Summer #2, are a common visual motif.

Chuck Johnson's exhibition of paintings, "Above Ground," on display at L Ross Gallery through June 30, is so restful to gaze upon that my suspicions were raised; I do like art to jab and unsettle me a bit. On the other hand, sitting in the gallery when the afternoon temperature outside was about a bazillion degrees and the sun blazed down relentlessly acted as a definite respite to the torrid oppression.

In fact, there's one large piece -- 48-by-48 inches -- called "Cool Blue" that looks so much exactly the way it sounds, a swath of cool blue and bluish-green with DNA- and cell-like figures gently a-drift and a sweet shower of dim, cool gems flowing down the middle of the plane, that I wanted to dive in and float for a spell. Did I mention that the air conditioner on my car is broken?

Chuck Johnson's exhibit features the oil on panel "Cool Blue."

Those spiraling and ring-shaped motifs occur in almost every work in this exhibition of nearly abstract oil on panel paintings, a signal that the deep message is organic and earthy while the delivery is gossamer and ethereal. Johnson is an adjunct faculty member in the Art Department at the University of Memphis, where he teaches painting, drawing and watercolor technique. Indeed his use of oil pigment is almost as flowing and transparent as watercolor, a feat that contributes to the airy and aqueous delicacy of his efforts and his sense of unfolding infinite layers to reveal the microscopic life at the heart (or spirit) of nature.

"Nearly abstract" because in many of these pieces, Johnson sketches with charcoal or graphite intricately detailed botanic specimens that make explicit his involvement with the organic, natural world and its function as a living force. This device is most effective in the four lovely examples from the artist's "Opulent Sublime" series (No. 3, 5, 6 and 7), which make stabs at expressing something about nature's sublimity but do so in a manner that seems (all to the better) more spare and elegant than opulent. Perhaps this is a symptom of title inflation.

Many artists employ visual motifs similar to Johnson's; it's common to see (and not just locally) the same sorts of spirals, flattened loops, clusters of cell-like figments and filaments to indicate concerns that range in scope from vast infinitude to infinitely tiny. Johnson's esthetic would be rendered more compelling by movement away from those themes to ideas and images more personal and individual, even more eccentric, perhaps more muscular, allowing his paintings to offer not just delicacy and elegance but power and energy.

On the other hand, half an hour spent among these frond-filled, gauzy glimpses of inner and outer worlds would go a long way to assuaging your fever dreams.

--------------------

"Above Ground," paintings by Chuck Johnson

At L Ross Gallery, 5040 Sanderlin, Suite 104, through June 30. Call 767-2200

--------------------

© 2011 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.