Gary Snyder Gallery is pleased to announce Ron Johnson, an exhibition of paintings at 529 West 20th Street. Opening on July 10, 2012, the exhibition is Johnson’s first in a New York gallery. Nineteen of the artist’s exuberant abstract paintings will be on view, all completed during the past two years.

In his paintings, Johnson utilizes abundant color and an economy of line to create a variety of dramatic surface effects. In works such as Wear You Wrong (2011) and Easy for You to Say (2011), sensuous, looping forms in candy-colored acrylics sweep across a wood support. By diluting his paints with clear polyurethane, Johnson is able to create forms that are somehow simultaneously opaque and transparent. As a result, Johnson’s paintings neither project nor contain light. Instead, light slowly diffuses through the paintings’ surface and out into space.

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1968, Ron Johnson received an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003. Since then, he has had solo exhibitions in Ohio, Virginia, and Paris. In addition,
his work has been in group exhibitions at many prestigious institutions, including: the Columbus Museum of Art (2000, Columbus), the Wexner Center for the Arts (2000, Columbus), the Andersen Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University (2003, Richmond), and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (2004, Washington, D.C.). Most recently, Johnson’s work appeared in Between Surface/Forming Surface (January 13-February 25, 2012) at Richmond’s Reynolds Gallery.

Johnson’s work is featured in numerous public and private collections, including: Altria Group, Richmond; the Federal Reserve Bank, Washington, D.C.; Fountainhead Properties, Richmond; Markel Corporation, Richmond; and Try-me, Richmond.