Gavin Johnson Artist
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
GavinJohnson is an artist and athlete that resides in London, England. He was bornin the Bronx, New York in 1982 and was raised in London.
He is an accomplished javelin thrower, having won multiple titles including two English National Championships, but it’s his art that is stealing his attention as his athletic career winds down. Yet sport is not forgotten in this transition, as Gavin merges his passion for movement in sports, and psychology into his visual arts.
Gavin believes that “the greatest gift bestowed upon us is our ability to create. We are all artists in our own way, merely expressing indifferent formats and with refreshingly unique perspectives.”
Coming from a diverse, creative background, Gavin is now exploring the world of abstract art for the first time. His previous efforts have focused on portrait and comic art.
Studying the works of Hilma Af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky, the founders of abstract art, and following the genre’s development to the post-modern era of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, has expanded his knowledge and inspired Gavin.
Enthralled by their beliefs and expression through art, the abstract masters conveyed the intangibles through colour and what appeared to be at first arbitrary patterns. The genre has captivated Gavin.
It was initially challenging for him to let go and express movement, emotions and moods using colours, forms and texture in abstract. But, as Gavin describes, “this newfound freedom from regulation and order has been truly liberating, and I now find the expression flowing effortlessly out of me.”
His current work explores the themes of movement, love, growth and the many forms of development. Through abstract shapes, patterns and the blending of colours, Gavin’s paintings irrevocably speak to us on an existential level. He challenges himself to convey the link between us and the intangible feelings we all have, drawing influences from his life experiences, psychological studies, tribal patterns and a myriad of colours.
He feels that this art form and the way colours can blend perfectly depict the relative state we are all in, showing that harmony can be found in the different feelings and emotions we experience as we move through life.
Gavin relishes finding novel and creative ways to show the mysterious things that contribute to the strong bonds we create with each other. He wants “the movement of the paint to jump off the canvas - a real injection of life that we all can relate to and be moved by.”
Gavin works primarily with acrylic paint and is currently workingfrom his art studio space in Brixton, London.
