Juleen Johnson (Untitled) Metamorphosis of Floors, Walls, and Ceilings: An ongoing process piece
Juleen Johnson installing “Floors, Walls, Ceiling” and while she’s making placements she’s discussing Big Sur, beauty, and displacement. Love it!
Juleen Johnson (Untitled) Metamorphosis of Floors, Walls, and Ceilings: An ongoing process piece Digital photo installation 2011 curated by PLACE part of the IN(ter)DEPENDENCE exhibition
About this Installation The viewer is supposed to ask questions about what they perceive as soon as they enter the space. They could be looking at a floor, wall or ceiling. The participant is to feel present in the physical space and the time that they spend with each piece that has been frozen that is actually not really present in real time but a remembrance of a certain time. How the viewer experiences the piece as a whole or each individual piece creating an intimate relationship between the viewer and the space they inhibit.
There are duplicates of some of the images because any time you have a duplicate one cannot exist. The duplicates are separated on two different plains of existence or even on two different walls to negate both images, which causes friction and questions within the viewer’s mind. Some other questions that I hope to bring out in the viewers are: How do I view things in everyday life? What did I gain or lose from this experience? How I am I formally introducing myself into the world? Do I care? What does being present in today’s society really mean? Am I present now?
Bio Juleen Johnson’s images and installations create a language or dialogue about people’s identities without words. As an artist she embraces her ethical responsibilities in the context of society through her work with concepts such as inherent and adopted identities, consumerism, and environmental destruction. Through the study of interdisciplinary and multicultural art practice, Johnson has been able to manifest her experience of adopted identities and environments. She hopes her artwork will permit others to rehabilitate the past and reveal pathways through the present into the future. Johnson has found through working with different media that she likes working with objects or subjects that are repetitious and meticulous. Quite often she makes objects that begin small, like the origami cranes, and bring all the materials together to create a large-scale installation. To Johnson, impacts of events are huge: in reality and in the mind. http://juleenj.com
Exhibition Description The IN(ter)DEPENDENCE exhibition points to the emergence, in and around Portland over the last 5 years, of small, independently operated, and self-funded cultural hubs. These creative centers have sprung from garages, sheds, old store fronts, unusual gallery situations, above creeks, and within vacant retail spaces. The cross section of these centers represented in IN(ter)DEPENDENCE have introduced exciting new levels of refinement, fresh inspiration, and consistency into the familiar DIY sensibility the Northwest is known for.
Each space or curator participating was asked to nominate an artist or collaborative group to represent them in them in the IN(ter)DEPENDENCE exhibition.
