Ezra Johnson

Associate Professor, Painting & Video
MFA, Hunter College of the City University of New York
Phone: 813.974.2360
Email: ezraj@usf.edu
Office: FAH 256

Website: www.ezrajohnson.com

Ezra Johnson's multi-disciplinary practice investigates and expands upon inert interpretations of the medium of painting. Paintings, sculptures, and animations recursively play off of one another revealing concealed spaces and propelling static objects into motion. Johnson creates a material presence in flux, drawing awareness to the space within and between works. In “Oops!” (2016), the interjection of the title is inscribed with crosshatched lines on a large, low-hanging canvas. The word is covered by a pile of pink paint smeared across the surface. On the ground leaning up against the wall, two rectangular forms precariously balance on a cement block, which is mimicked in a small painting next to it. The synergy between materials provides a catalyst to construct the scene that caused the exclamation, Oops!

 Johnson has recently had solo exhibitions at the Freight & Volume Gallery in New York City, the Volta Art Fair, also in New York, the Young Projects in Los Angeles, and the Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami. He has participated in group shows at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City), the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), the ICA Philadelphia, and the Site Santa Fe Biennial. Johnson’s work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, ArtNews, Hyperallergic, and the New York Times. His BFA was conferred from the California College of the Arts and Crafts, and he received his MFA from Hunter College.