Opening Reception: Saturday, September 13, 2-5pm
Guided Tour of the Exhibition with Sarah Anne Johnson: Saturday, September 13, 3pm
Exhibition Dates: September 13 – October 25, 2023
Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present “A Mountain and a Forest”, our seventh solo exhibition of work by Canadian artist Sarah Anne Johnson.
Johnson presents a journey in two chapters: “Cedar Forest” and “Mountain”. Both series expound on the artist’s “Woodland”series, offering new dimensions and depth to an already impressive body of work. “Mountain” offers a quiet, personal reflection on horseback trek through Jasper National Park, while “Cedar Forest” draws viewers into the mesmerizing cedar groves of British Columbia. These series exist in beautiful harmony as a meditation on the natural world, and what it mean means to experience it fully.
The figures in “Mountain” are depicted on an unending journey, captured mid-passage as they move toward the promise of salvation within the “Cedar Forest”. The intimate moments captured in this series are enshrined in hand-crafted frames, which become not only recollections, but artifacts of the journey.
In “Cedar Forest”, the trees appear alive, vibrating with the colour and energy that Johnson draws out of them. Through careful application of digital chroma, iridescent tapes, gold leaf, and oil paints, she transforms the landscapes into otherworldly vistas–both familiar and fantastical. These images not only highlight the innate beauty of the natural world but also allude to its innerworkings and connectedness.
Johnson’s strength in comes from inviting the viewer not only to see how she sees, but to feel how she feels. She does not simply take photographs, she creates them. Transforming landscapes into shared experience, memories, and ruminations on our relationship to the natural world and to ourselves.
Johnson received her MFA from Yale University and a BFA from University of Manitoba. Her work is featured in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; the Guggenheim Museum, NY; Contemporary Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, each of which has extensive holdings of her work. She was prominently featured in the “Oh, Canada” show at Mass MOCA and she has received commissions from Louis Vuitton, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Bank of Montreal.
