Jess Johnson
Eclectrc Panoptic
29 July - 8 October 2016
My reality is different to your reality. We’re taught to think of reality as a fixed and absolute thing; like concrete or bedrock. I think of it as flowing lava, moving under the surface of time. Reality can be different speeds and densities. It can be multidimensional. It can be harnessed and brought into existence by words and symbols. The human brain can conceive of something that did not exist before and then go out and make it. You can make something out of nothing and alter the universe around you. By anyone’s definition that’s magic.
Jess Johnson
Talbot Rice Gallery proudly presented Eclectrc Panoptic, the first exhibition in Europe of New York based artist Jess Johnson. Eclectrc Panoptic transformed Gallery 3 with a suite of new drawings, technicolour wallpaper, a holodeck floor and featured the virtual reality animation Ixian Gate.
Eclectrc Panoptic revealed Johnson’s fascination with the intersections between language, popular culture, technology and science fiction. She builds complex worlds that combine densely layered patterns, bizarre figures and evocative texts within real and imagined architectural spaces. The specific genesis of Eclectrc Panoptic is the psychomagic group rituals conceived by the visionary filmmaker and comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky; and the technological themes of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune. Johnson also takes influence from sci-fi writers such as Christopher Priest and Russell Hoban, and graphic novel writer Alan Moore.
At the heart of the installation was Ixian Gate, created by Johnson in collaboration with artist and music video director Simon Ward. Ward took high resolution scans of Johnson’s drawings and turned them into a three-dimensional world using the game engine Unity – a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games. With additional development support from Kenny Smith, and sound by Andrew Clarke, Ixian Gate allowed viewers to enter the world of Johnson’s drawing and take an immersive, visceral trip through her imagination.
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Jess Johnson was born in Tauranga, New Zealand in 1979. In 2016 she relocated permanently to New York after ten years of living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Johnson’s work has been exhibited throughout Australia, New Zealand and Internationally where she has participated in solo and group exhibitions at; Jack Hanley Gallery, New York; Art Basel, Hong Kong; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia; and Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand. Johnson is represented by Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia; and Ivan Anthony, Auckland, New Zealand.