Rae Johnson

Rae Johnson (1953-2020) was a Canadian painter who lived in Toronto, Canada.[2][3]

Rae Johnson
Rae Johnson in her studio in 2018
Born(1953-03-28)March 28, 1953
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
DiedMay 18, 2020(2020-05-18) (aged 67)
NationalityCanadian
EducationOntario College of Art (1980)
Known forCofounder, ChromaZone Gallery, Toronto 1980s[1]
MovementFigurative Painting Movement, Toronto 1980s
WebsiteOCAD profile

Early life

Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Johnson studied at the New School of Art in Toronto from 1975 to 1976 and at the Ontario College of Art from 1977 to 1980. In 1981 she became a founding member of the ChromaZone gallery,[4] an artist collective[5] dedicated to reintroducing figurative painting to Toronto.[6] In 1987 she moved to northern Ontario; the landscapes which she has since produced are reminiscent of the work of the Group of Seven, whose work she had seen at the National Gallery of Canada when she was still a student.[7]

Teaching

Johnson was a professor at OCADU since 1987,[8] and lectured at various institutions, including the Zweigstelle Berlin Gallery, the University of Toronto, York University (Toronto), and the Banff Center, Guelph University, the Toronto School of Art, among others.[9]

Curating work

From 2009-2011 she acted as guest curator for the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and National Gallery @ MOCCA, providing research for the 2011 historical exhibition, "This is Paradise," [10] where Johnson said:

“This exhibition is a celebration of this era, marked by triumph and tragedy, and the reclamation of an important part of Toronto history. Works for this multidisciplinary exhibition have been borrowed from collections across Canada, to once again return to their origins, on Queen Street West.”[11]

In 2012, she curated and organized an exhibition of 32 artists from Canada titled TORONTO/BERLIN 1982-2012, hosted by the Zweigstelle Berlin Gallery in Berlin. In 2017, she was selected to be the visual editor of the Theatre Passe Muraille 50th anniversary book, and was recently included in A Concise History of Canadian Painting third edition.[12] She was included in Intervention: 31 Women Painters exhibition in Montreal, curated by Harold Klunder.[13]

Exhibitions

Johnson showed extensively throughout Toronto and Canada, including yearly solo exhibitions at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery from 1983-1991. She was represented by Christopher Cutts Gallery in Toronto,[14] which is where she held her last exhibition before her death, entitled Angels and Monsters[15].

Artwork

Primarily a painter, Johnson's work dealt with dreams and imagination, providing enough detail to recognize figures and spaces but "encourages us to contemplate endings, meanings and loss."[16] Themes in her artwork ranged from Madonna figures to sexuality, pornography, archetypes and Jungian psychology.[17] With a feminist outlook, and using domestic interiors and natural landscapes as starting points for her paintings,[18] her works have been noted for their diary-like quality, being "like notations in a journal," of simple memories.[19] She painted guardian angels and claimed her favorite angel was Archangel Michael.[2] With her spirituality at the core of her artworks, in her own words, she said:

"I want my paintings to offer a space for the imagination and an affirmation of inner life."[20]

In 2020, the Art Gallery of Ontario acquired Johnson's monumental painting Night Games at the Paradise, 1984.[21]

Death

Rae Johnson lived in Toronto until her death on May 18, 2020.[3]

References
  1. "ChromaZone / Chromatique: A Brief History 1981-1986". ccca.concordia.ca. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. Sayej, Nadja. "Looking Back On The 40 Year Career Of Toronto Artist, Rae Johnson". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. Glenn Sumi (25 May 2020). "In memoriam: Rae Johnson, 1953–2020". nowtoronto.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  4. "'Johnson, Rae, 1953- -- Portraits' Search Results for Toronto Public Library". Toronto Public Library. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  5. Torontoist (2011-07-06). "Toronto Art Then, Now, and Tomorrow in This is Paradise". Torontoist. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  6. "PARADISE LOST: This is Paradise Exhibition & Cameron Culture Essay, 1987 By Donna Lypchuk". YYZ ARTISTS' OUTLET. 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  7. Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller (19 December 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
  8. 134851139863553; 134851139863553 (2017-02-15). "RAE JOHNSON". OCAD UNIVERSITY. Retrieved 2020-05-21.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. "Rae Johnson". ARTATTACK!. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  10. "Archiving the '80s: The launch of Paradise Now". thestar.com. 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  11. "MOCCA Launches Sizzling Summer Exhibitions Program". Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  12. Reid, Dennis (2012). A Concise History of Canadian Painting. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195444568.
  13. "Intervention 31 Women Painters". OCAD UNIVERSITY. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  14. "Christopher Cutts Gallery - Rae Johnson CV". cuttsgallery.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  15. "Rae Johnson: Angels and Monsters". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  16. Whyte, Ewan (2015). Rae Johnson: Interiors. Toronto: Christopher Cutts Gallery. ISBN 978-1-927376-12-6.
  17. "Rae Johnson at Christopher Cutts – ARTORONTO". Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  18. Canada, Polska (2018-04-19). "Ewan Whyte - Rae Johnson's Dream-Like Spaces". Polska Canada. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  19. "Rae Johnson". tusslemagazine. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  20. "Rae Johnson: The City press release". September 2018.
  21. "Indigenous & Canadian". Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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