Bradford Johnson

Boston-based artist Bradford Johnson received his MFA from Hunter College and his BA from Wheaton College. His paintings based on historical photographs explore the effect of photography on memory. They balance the documentary nature of photography with expressive brushwork and other traces of the artist’s hand. Johnson creates his work through a painstaking and original process, applying multiple layers of clear acrylic resin on a surface using a mechanism similar to a mounted squeegee. After each transparent layer dries, Bradford applies a collection of tiny brushstrokes with a single color of acrylic paint. After every subsequent clear layer is applied using the spreading mechanism, a new color is mixed and painted by hand, and the process repeats. A typical painting can consist of more than 20 layers. As the process nears it's end, an image begins to take shape. These images are meant to be recognized, and yet, due to the nature of the process, a level of abstraction and mystery is infused in each painting. Dark Foliage, layered acrylic on panel, 11x17 Inversion, layered acrylic on panel, 13x18 Dark Highlands, layered acrylic on panel, 13x19