Lucas Johnson: Drawings

Moody Gallery presents the exhibition Lucas Johnson: Drawings. Opening Reception Saturday, July 11, 2pm-5pm. On view through August 8.

Artist Lucas Johnson (1940-2002) was a “Yankee with a Latin soul.”

Raised in Protestant New England, he passionately embraced the people, language, and life of Mexico, where he lived periodically during his lifetime. The landscape and mysticism of the country, along with Mexico’s richly multifaceted culture, became the foundation stones of his art.

A master colorist, Johnson based his art in figuration, but mythical and narrative elements give it an imagist rather than a realist effect. Johnson was equally adept at drawing, printmaking, and painting, and all these facets of his artwork are explored in this volume.

In Johnson’s early drawings and paintings, the subjects were personages drawn from humanist impulses, an interest Johnson shared with many artists in the 1960s.

After he settled in Texas in the 1970s, his imagery changed, growing more abstract and symbolic, but it was always suffused with humanity. Johnson explored many different materials and techniques, from egg tempera and silverpoint to bronze casting. He was also intensely curious about politics, literature, and the how and why of people’s lives.

An avid sportsman and fisherman, Johnson produced imagery based on astute observation and often infused with the transformative power of natural phenomena.

All these interests inform an intriguing body of work that profoundly reflects the artist’s deep connection to the geography, flora, fauna, and peoples of the Texas-Mexico region and the Gulf Coast, while it also delves into the mysteries of myth and human motivation.

Pictured: Chocolate Bayou Bottom, 1987, Mixed Media Drawing. (detail above, full image below).