Art buddies Brendan Fowler (editor of ANP Quarterly) and Chris Johanson amid the color field…

WARNING: THIS ENTRY CONTAINS HIPPIE “ARTSPEAK”
Modern abstract/experimental painter CHRIS JOHANSON’s immersive new art environment “Totalities” submerged the downtown art world in a field of vibrating color and deep theory when it opened at DEITCH PROJECTS to much fanfare last week. A member in good standing of the so-called “Beautiful Losers” camp—and its resident intellectual—Johanson has created a show he describes as a “contemporary living installation” through a multi-media construction incorporating paintings, sculpture, installation, and musical performance unlike anything he’s ever attempted before. When the viewer enters the gallery space, a giant checkerboard of skin tones and natural hues dominates their field of vision, representing the colors of the world. They then pass through the artist’s so-called (no laughing now) “natural tunnel” before emerging into a (awesomely-named) “space temple,” which represents a space ship/universal time capsule. All the paintings within are representations of the past, the present and the future, expressing the artist’s thought that time goes on forever in both directions, and stressing the importance of the here and now. Yeah, that’s a lot of wild artspeak for one show, but it’s an exhibition that must be experienced in person to be truly appreciated. Of course a nice dosing prior to entry will greatly enhance the viewing and no doubt make your time spent in the “space capsule” all the more meaningful. HAVE A LOOK:

Life imitates art…

The boys are back in town…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am and is filed under NYC, News, Openings, art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.