Art: Visual Journeys

People person

By Erika Yowell

Anthony Johnson's show Visual Journeys, at the West Las Vegas Arts Center, includes a couple of framed certificates indicating he was a kudos-winning student at the Community College of Southern Nevada. These honors were justly deserved, if his work displayed here is any indication. His paintings in oil and pen-and-ink and charcoal drawings of African-Americans display a talent for portraiture and composition not often encountered anywhere, much less in a classroom.

Johnson's work depicts "family and friends whose support and love help individuals of all nationalities cope with the challenges of living in a complex society." With such a high-minded artist's statement, one might expect to see some sort of instructive narrative content in the pieces. This expectation is met, although not in every piece and in no way is the entire show weighed down by any sort of heavy-handed moralizing.

In "Deviance," Johnson has rendered a standing portrait of a man in a vaguely serpentine pose, with much of his back facing the picture plane and his down-turned profile in view. Behind his back, his handcuffed hands are a focal point, and are offset by the shadow of his form visible on the wall behind him. This shadow is no ordinary silhouette of the figure rendered in various grays, however; in it, Johnson has depicted not-so-subtle evocation of the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag. If the artist is suggesting that to confine a black man in shackles is the American Way, then this painting might qualify as the most politically charged of the bunch.

There seem to be a lot of women in Johnson's life--little girls, these girls' mothers, mothers-to-be. His ability to capture the range of expressiveness contained in their faces makes some of these paintings particularly stunning. In "Non-Chalant," a little girl in pigtails and a T-shirt stands with her head cocked to the side and tilted back, so she's gazing down to meet the viewer's eyes. She just oozes attitude, and her curious alignment within the drawing's boundaries--she occupies only one vertical half of the available space--creates an almost comically charged effect: Little Miss Thang is keeping plenty of distance from you, thank you very much.

In "Modern-American Madonna," Johnson displays virtuosity in pencil drawing and the drawing itself reveals the suggestion of a signature style in the making. Rendered with almost photographic realism save for curiously stylized hair on both mother and newborn's heads, Johnson's portrait of mother and baby qualifies as a contemporary icon.