A selection from the series Shrines & Altars was exhibited at the Artists Alley in San Francisco! Galiara on the Web, The Artists Alley is located at 863 Mission between 4th & 5th across Bloomingdales Mall.
Shrines & Altars at the Steynberg Gallery
“Shrines & Altars” at the Steynberg Gallery in San Luis Obispo, Nov. 2009
A major presentation of the “Shrines & Altars” series took place in November 2009 at the Steynberg Gallery in San Luis Obispo. Eighteen 24”x36” archival pigment prints were on display.
Myth of Choice
The series “The Myth of Choice” has evolved from my recognition of the false dualities that are so much a part of our life and culture. Who we really are is acceptance and wholeness without separation. Research in quantum physics has reaffirmed what Spiritual Masters for centuries have taught – that everything we perceive is all one energy expressed at different vibrations. I have borrowed the phrase “The Myth of Choice” from contemporary master Jeff Foster who presents a non-dualistic- “fresh encounter with life as it is”. Everything is connected and “is” – even the ubiquitous Styrofoam packaging that protects computers and other electronics. This series is an attempt to propose this by allowing for the potential reconciliation by the viewer of these apparently jarring incongruities.
This work comes from experiments since 2011 where I have explored the peculiar look of packaging that is used to protect electronics. This material which acts as an exoskeleton, is also a kind of negative imprint of the various electronic goods. Seeing the strangeness in the commonplace has been a theme throughout my photographic career. I find this type of subject endlessly fascinating just because it is such a common part of our consumer culture and reveals, in its own way, the esteemed value that we place in these products.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Shrines & Altars
This series can be seen as psychic snapshots of my interior world produced during an intense period of transformation. They are narratives that chronicle an increasing self-awareness and a range of states of mind. I hope they find some universality in their final form as we all seek our own self-awareness within a media saturated/consumer culture.
The series began with a desire to use images I made as a freshman in college in 1968 of Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Seeing the remarkable parallels in the eras, I felt it imperative to look back and bring these images forward. Through many variations, I began to move beyond the images of Nixon and Bobby Kennedy to a more interior space. Having recently emptied out my mother’s storage unit after her death, I found all sorts of interesting objects that would bring another personal and evocative layer into the work. I also realized that machine parts I had saved years ago that had been used to build whimsical robots by a good friend would add another contrasting personal layer. I often use postcards of famous artworks as a kind of foil or provocation in the constructions. Finally, I used ubiquitous items referencing our contemporary “Home Depot” / “Best Buy” culture to further the narrative.
The creative process started simply as I arranged objects and images that evolved into in an increasingly complex structure, sometimes in gravity defying balance. A motley crew of elements became a story, melding together under the fire of light. The process would build and flow with ritual intensity until the light failed. I came to see the stage as a space where kinetic energy and diaphanous layers interacted with objects, textures, and light to build an image that had a sculptural and physical presence. The final image was built out of the fragments and gestures made during the shooting session. The result is a blending of sculpture, painting, and photography. Both intoxicatingly fun and grueling, this alchemical path, for me, opened the door to a true chamber of wonders.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Methods:
Images are assembled from a selection of 15-25 drawn from over 70 or more separate digital photographs taken during each session. The images are layered and selected parts are “painted though” to a base layer. Thus, these works are in the vein of Rauschenberg’s “Combines’ from the 1950’s – they are hybrids located between painting, sculpture and photography. All works are available in varying sizes up to 24” x 36.” All pieces are archival pigment prints using Epson’s latest HDR inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Ireland Landscapes
While playing many rounds of golf with my friend Paul Zingg over the years, we couldn’t help but notice, as have many avid golfers, that present in the game are beings with higher powers known as the “golf gods.” Often called upon and sworn at, an almost universal feeling exists among amateur and pro alike that these gods exert ultimate control in this most devilish game.
In 2000 and again in 2002, Paul organized trips to Ireland, in part to see if we could experience these golf gods at closer range. His book, An Emerald Odyssey: In Search of the Golf Gods and Ireland, to which I am proud to have contributed a number of photographs, focuses on the history, mythology and remarkable aura of mystery one experiences on these Irish links. It feels, as he says, “about as close to heaven as golf gets.”
I took the photographs during rounds of golf. The beauty, austerity and sense of an ancient connection were profound. I attempted to capture these feelings in photographic form. For the book, I transformed the original color photographs into black and white renderings. This interpretation has given them an evocative quality that is more symbolic and less overtly descriptive.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Videoglyphs
“Videoglyphs” is an imaginary archaeology using stills from our television culture merged into photographs of rock formations. The stone and the television image are dramatic opposites, an impossible combination, one permanent and one ephemeral. It is, in part, the challenge of merging these opposites that excited me to make this work. The television, like the ancient stone carvings that we find in petroglyphs, contains most of our important cultural imagery. I make this most commonplace of all things remote and give it the patina of age and distance. I also leave a trail of clues for the viewer to follow that may re-create the experience of being in the presence of archaeological remains.
Carl Jung observes that the stone is a symbol of eternity in many cultures. Perhaps it is this symbolic power that gives actual rock art sites some of their special aura. I have tried to emulate this aura in an effort to turn pieces of the flickering present into an ancient past.
My desire to create this series beginning in 1996 was the impetus for starting my exploration of digital software with the advent of Digital Darkroom and then Photoshop 1.0.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Abandoned Highways
I have always been drawn to the mystery of archaeological remains. I enjoy the sense of discovery, the clues to be read, the stories to be teased out of small fragments. Add to this the visual beauty and patina of an object that is past its prime and is embedded into an existing landscape and you have, in my opinion, a loaded subject full of implications.
The series “Abandoned Highways,” was conceived in the mid 1980’s after I moved to California. It struck me that in this throwaway California culture, so heavily based on the automobile, the abandoned highway itself could be a kind of unexpected archaeology. As the interstate highway system was built starting in the late 1950’s, many older two-lane highways were simply abandoned. They are often left near their wider replacements with their centerlines still visible, though slowly being reclaimed by nature. The centerline then, the line that all drivers know well, becomes an index to change. Photographed in different California locations, the series uses the centerline as a common structure that provides continuity and a familiar guide.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
The Stones of the Carrizo Plain
The Carrizo Plain in eastern San Luis Obispo County in Central California is remote grassland with remarkable sandstone outcroppings. For centuries these stones were used as shelter for the local Chumash tribe. Painted Rock, one of the most famous stones, still retains remnants of Chumash paintings. I have photographed extensively in this amazing place over the years. My “Videoglyph” project was in part inspired by the locale and the actual rock art I discovered. The sandstone outcroppings and monoliths are endlessly fascinating and evocative. I find this area remarkably similar in feeling to New Mexico, the “land of enchantment,” where I lived while attending graduate school in the late 1970’s. The photographs in this series are simple descriptions, which I attempted to imbue with the love I feel for this site of natural wonders.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Duskwork
The Duskwork series was done in the early 1980’s shortly after having moved to California. I was exploring the glitz and intense color one associated with the golden state as well as the remarkable intensity possible with transparency film and glossy Cibachrome printing.
Scenes of the Pacific War
In August 1945, my father Burt Johnson was in the Pacific along with hundreds of thousands of others preparing to invade Japan when the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war. The invasion became an occupation. My personal interest led me to an investigation of the images from that theater of battle that became a source of creative inspiration for me. I was additionally motivated to create this series by the amazing footage from World War II airing on the History Channel, some of it available to the public for the first time. I realized I could still-frame videotapes with the television outside and have an image from the Pacific War floating near the dusk sky. Added to this, I could generate my own light with filtered strobe as I had been doing previously. With scenes of the Pacific War, I had content that matched the drama and intensity of the medium. Like many photographers at the time, I had migrated to the extraordinary color and intensity of the Cibachrome print. It was, however, too perfect for the idea and I began to spray paint with auto enamel on the shiny, pristine surface stencils and other masking materials. The result is the series you see here: “Cibachrome” color intensity contrasted with the dull and textured layering of auto enamel spray. These are now available as archival pigment prints using the latest Epson HDR inks
16” x 20” Cibachrome with auto enamel spray
Signs of Life
Using the magic dusk light and transparency film I used neon lights combined with a globe to explore an unexpected slightly surreal view. Inspired by images of the earth from space, the series focuses on the Southern Hemisphere- exactly the area where we in the Northern Hemisphere don’t normally look for “Signs of Life” and where a viewer from space would have no reason not to.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks.
Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. If interested in digital rights, please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Photograms
The Photograms reflect my fascination with the unexpected archaeological fragment and juxtaposition. Made well before my “Videoglyph” series they preview some of the concerns that show up later once digital manipulation becomes available.
IBM Typewriter Ribbon-
I used IBM typewriter ribbon I saved from writing my Dissertation in Graduate school in the late 1970’s. I tore it, stretched it and frayed it and made photograms on a type of light sensitive material called Printing out Paper, that darkens under the action of light. The results feel much like archaeological fragments. This was my aim — to make the current take on the appearance of the ancient.
Templates-
I also began experimenting with architectural drawing templates juxtaposing them with photographs of material that they symbolize.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”.
All images are available as archival pigment prints using Epson’s latest HDR inks. Please go to the Print Sales page on this website if interested in purchase of the work. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”. Please contact Eric if interested. Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. Please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Ground Management – Golf
Ground management (Golf) is a series from the late 1970’s inspired by a synthesis of minimalist painting, earth art and the first images from the NASA Viking lander on Mars in 1976. I looked at the golf course as a form of earth sculpture – the earth modified for a specific purpose in an elegant yet strange way. Combine that with the somewhat random effect of a lander dropping out of the sky showing up and pointing down at whatever is before it, and you have the genesis of this series. I also used a very wide angle lens very close to the ground in most cases to flatten the perspective and make the image more disorienting. Additionally, it was necessary to use a green filter to separate and enhance the contrast of the blades of grass in order to heighten the super texture effect.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”.
All images are available as archival pigment prints using Epson’s latest HDR inks. Please go to the Print Sales page on this website if interested in purchase of the work. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”. Please contact Eric if interested. Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. Please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Ernest Bloch Article in Aperture Magazine
Eric Johnson wrote an article about the beginning of his work with Ernest Bloch, and published it in Aperture Magazine in 1972, titled: A Composer’s Vision Photographs by Ernest Bloch (Eric Johnson, Aperture magazine 16.3).
Alaska
This work was made in the summers of 1972 and 1973 when I worked in a Salmon cannery located in the village of Naknek, on Bristol Bay in Alaska. The sockeye salmon season is very short– three to four weeks –bringing fisherman from all over to seek the treasure of a big “run.” Many came up from California and Seattle. These fishermen represented many types of ethnicities with a fishing tradition. A raw bunch, they were great fun to photograph. Also included are native Alaskans as well as cannery workers- college students like myself and Filipino’s who specialized in the manual gutting of the fish. The authenticity of these people still shines through!
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”.
All images are available as archival pigment prints using Epson’s latest HDR inks. Please go to the Print Sales page on this website if interested in purchase of the work. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”. Please contact Eric if interested. Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. Please contact Eric to make an inquiry.
Voracious Seeing
This work is from the 1970’s. I was on a seeing quest – a voracious seeing – covering a wide variety of subject matter but always with a slightly surreal twist. From commonplace urban and natural details to portraits, to street photography, I was seeing intensely. I was standing apart, like an anthropologist in my seeing. The series shows a transition from the 8” x 10” camera and precise studies of “significant” objects and details, to small camera journalistic work with a more social awareness then transitioning to work in the mid 70’s in Albuquerque NM with a cooler more detached point of view. I feel that my sense of wonder at intensely seeing the “commonplace” still resides in the work.
All works are archival pigment prints on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art paper using the latest Epson HDR pigment based inks. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”.
All images are available as archival pigment prints using Epson’s latest HDR inks. Please go to the Print Sales page on this website if interested in purchase of the work. Vintage silver prints made in the 1970’s are available in limited quantities, size 8” x10”. Please contact Eric if interested. Digital rights are copyrighted but one time use is available. Please contact Eric to make an inquiry.