Emma Johnson: Reconstructed and Deconstructed Maps
Emma Johnson is an British artist, living and working in Suffolk UK. She attended The Slade School of Fine Art in London and Jacob Kramer College of Art in Leeds. She is currently working at Asylum Studios in Suffolk
The Origin of the artist’s work
In the form of a colloquial and intimate response to a friend of his, the artist reveals us the nature of his art and artistic research. She tells how from painting she decided to dedicate herself to new forms of representation. The artist confesses that painting did not meet his expectations, so he found himself choosing a new path involving three-dimensionality. This led her to destroy and recompose as she claims, “information”.
Emma Johnson modifies objects such as maps, letters or books that almost always contain information and, although these objects do not lose their configurations and their general appearance, they are no longer readable after the artist’s intervention. She uses various techniques to deconstruct her works are often repetitive and almost obsessive, the artist says it’s a way to channel her latent DOC.
She uses the map as a point of origin for the creation of a new work of art that is at the same time evident but illegible. Sometimes she tries to fix in her works of art the flows of thought and concepts that characterize life and that by definition are non fixable.
Bridges
The artist carves layers and layers of maps in a precise and systematic way to create complex compositions. In several projects the presence of bridges is evident, in contrast to the web of roads and rivers in the background. The bridges are legible and well identifiable, this very peculiar choice has a symbolic meaning. A bridge is a point of conjunction, a concrete image that refers to what man has learned to build to overcome the paralyzing condition of division and isolation between himself and the other or between parts of himself.
Book art
The artist engraves inside books and atlases to create a three-dimensional work. Also in this case the original object is no longer readable, but keeps the contents inside. The books contain paper webs that in some cases are the background for well-defined human figures
References:
Featured Image: Paris Environs by Emma Johnson
