About
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Mark Johnson was born in New York City in 1964, and currently lives and works in New York and Portland, Maine. He received a BA from Oberlin College and an MA from New York University. His paintings and prints have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including Planthouse Gallery (New York, NY), Susan Maasch Fine Art (Portland, ME) and the International Print Center New York. His work is included in the book, Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers, by David Hornung. Mark also has an ongoing involvement in architecture, which includes designing and building a residential house and small cabins.

Paintings

The experience of living for extended periods on a small island in Casco Bay, Maine, without electricity or running water, is at the core of my paintings. Surrounded by weather, tides, moon cycles, cloud formations, and the play of wind, all offers a world in constant motion and flux. The landscape and the transient states of the sea and sky provide endless opportunities to explore an ongoing interest in combining opposites—abstraction and representation, movement and stillness, near and far, the known and the unknown—while also underscoring my view of art as both a form of communication and a means for contemplation.

Prints

Dark Matter is a series of prints (digital, silkscreen, and etching) interpreting the elusive dark matter and energy that constitutes ninety-six percent of the universe. To appreciate the implications of this percentage, realize that all the visible matter constitutes only four percent of the matter in the universe.  The images consider ideas of dark matter and energy combined with views of our solar system and distant galaxies.

Chart Series is a group of intaglio prints created using the most advance forms of digital media in tandem with intaglio and relief print techniques. They are the result of years of experimental research in new ways of combining established and emerging forms of media.