TIM NASH JOHNSTON

Installations allow the artist to bring an idea into its fullest expression. The visual content brings to the space its fulfilment. I have produced 3: “Double Vision”, “suspended Shells” and “The Boardroom” In each case something about the space, its architecture or its purpose attracts my work to the place.

In the strictest sense photography is a photogram. The next level is a pinhole camera, in all its variations. Lenses complicate and extend the medium considerably. Then the digital image hit the screen and photography evolved into imaging. Over the years, I have kept my photography close to the basics. Pinhole photography, a unique lens and an exploration into the chemical nature of photography is my way of exploring the medium. I am promoting my images printed on acetate that can be suspended in windows or as room dividers.

Carving soapstone began 15 years ago while teaching sculpture at the middle school level. The physical nature of the medium is a stark opposition to photography. We live on a rock and sculpting provides a way to impose our will on it, while at the same time, accepting its limits. Photography perceives at a distance, receives a signal. They are intimate objects made to engage with each other. Crafted individuals from the hand and file, conversing, debating. The larger pieces stand on their own and have a name.

My drawing is gestural, spontaneous and methodical. Automatic and still driven with purpose, these drawings portray living quarters, abstract landscapes, and real objects. They comprise of twelve sketch books. The ballpoint pen was chosen to fit the page and the duration of drawing. I chose the ballpoint pen because it replaced a 2000-year-old technological wonder, pen and ink.