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Mark Johnston

Biography

Mark Johnston is among those who believe it is still possible to say something meaningful and exciting by applying paint to canvas. He chooses to work within the long tradition of landscape painting that has flourished with particular vigour in this country. His landscapes are largely abstracted, yet there is in them the same identification with the spirit of place that permeates the great line of English landscape artists, from the Norfolk school through Turner to the St. Ives School, notably Peter Lanyon.

Influences from abroad include Rembrant and Whistler with their masterly use of light and atmospheric qualities along with more recent painters such as Cy Twombly , Antoni Tapies and Anselm Kiefer who interest Johnston with their alchemy and freedom .Mark Johnston also pays a lot of respect to the 1950's abstract expressionists, in particular Franz Klein and his 1950­61 black and white's. These paintings contain real force, movement and compositional strength. The raw brush strokes show true justice to materials.

My work is taking longer as layers build up like sediment, ambiguity is part of their power. It's the process of painting that is the real buzz.

Using landscape as a starting point the painting gets under way, I react immediately and instinctively to keep the work alive, conscious of what the paint is doing as well as what I want the paint to do. The end is not planned until the painting has a mystique and spirit of its own.

One of the great things about abstracted landscapes is that they combine the highly subjective aesthetic and sensory appeal of pure abstract painting with the emotional appeal of more figurative landscape painting. Here are gradations of tones to delight the eye, and textures of great subtlety. Here too in paint is a whole world of nature, of mountains, skies, water, meadows, and above all, of light. Little wonder that Johnston finds painting exciting.

Like walking in the landscape, the process of painting is a pure journey, he says. Looking at what he has brought back from these journeys it is our pleasure to share that excitement.

- Paul Tierney 2007

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