Christopher Johnson

Christopher Johnson is an international artist of great distinction. Born in Zimbabwe, Johnson divides his time between Britain, Europe and South Africa but regards the UK as his home.

‘While Christopher Johnson seeks his subject matter in landscape, he handles his paint with verve and vigour, squaring the circle that makes form and content of equal importance and forging that creative tension that is essential in any work of art. In a series of paintings of scenes from home and abroad and favouring a long format, whether horizontal or vertical, he shows himself adept both in his use of colour and in his whiplash calligraphic line… Johnson is a sensitive and perceptive artist whose future is well worth watching.’
Richard Jaques in ‘The Scotsman’

Over the past ten years, the focus of his landscape painting has been diverted from foreign travel to reconnecting with the Cotswolds, which have been his base for nearly forty years. From larger scale mixed media works to the more recent “ Lane ” series, he has explored the light, structure and unfolding tensions between abstraction and representation governed by a sense of place. Perhaps because Johnson insists on painting directly in front of the motif, and the intensity of engagement with his subjects, the desire to explore their appearance might also reach within and beyond them.

Together with the landscape work, the flowers and figures he paints in his studio share some of the concerns that Henri Matisse addressed with his Mis en Abyme framework. The exploration of colour, the integration of the disparate made whole through unity.

Christopher Johnson has exhibited widely, both in the UK and abroad, including: The Aldeburgh Gallery, Pierrepont Fine Art (Oxford), The Scottish Gallery, Rhodean College (Johannesburg), St John’s College (Johannesburg) and at the Fosse Gallery. His solo exhibitions include galleries in London, Oxford, Stockbridge, Edinburgh and Gloucestershire.

Christopher Johnson’s work is widely represented in private and public collections including: Anglo-American Corporation (SA), Bank of England, Bank of Scotland, Baring Asset Management, Central Holdings (Luxembourg), Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Building Society plc, Cullinan Holdings, Cultura Venezia, De Beers (SA), Eagle Star, First National Bank (SA), Hiscox Holdings Ltd, IBM, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Maitland Consultancy, Martin Currie Investments Ltd, Rhodes University, Robert Fleming Holdings Ltd, The Rand Club, University of Oxford / Wolfson College, Task (UK) and Thames River Capital.