Chris Johanson

In Chris Johanson’s comically sinister universe, nudist dancers, good vibes, emotionally centered people, forest energy and rainbows transform the fleeting and commonplace activities of the human experience into affecting parables frozen in time. A veteran of the Northern California punk/skate scene, Johanson has been creating visual images since he was a teenager. His early raw, figurative drawings often utilized found or discarded materials such as reclaimed wood and paper, which were often found in dumpsters or construction sites. Chris Johanson is an artist dedicated to exploring the quandary that is the modern human condition, traversing the age of consumerism, and other perilous psychological phenomena such as self-help,psychotherapy, and cult spirituality. Chris Johanson received the 2002 SECA Award, given by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Johanson was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, SITE Santa Fe in 2003 and 9th Istanbul Biennial in 2005. He currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.