A photo from Nick Johnson's Transcendence
Showing at the PCT Gallery from March 17-April 9, 2009
When I started writing criticism, I made the decision to not write negative reviews. I based this choice on the idea that any review promotes artwork and if I didn't like an exhibition, why would I want to promote it? This logic follows the saying "any press is good press." However, I recently saw a show at the gallery at Penn College, the best art space in Williamsport, that made me break my vow...
As I walked down Fourth Street, I passed the corner space that advertises for Penn College's gallery. It had an intriguing poster for Nick Johnson's new exhibition, Transcendence. If I'm not mistaken, the picture I saw is the one I posted above. The precise spatial arrangement, the mirroring, rocky texture, and the line play in the photo excited me. This artist obviously had a sharp eye and knew what he was doing. I was anxious to see the work.
However, once I entered the gallery, I was appalled by Johnson's mind-numbing, flat repetition of technique. One sleek set of carefully arranged stones is cool. Two, okay. Three, I'm bored. Four, I don't care anymore. I know this sounds harsh and for me, my response is surprising because I am usually fond of repetition. Repetition is a good way of establishing boundaries for an artistic world. It gives one a sense of where the center is and then one can easily recognize variation and trace a journey. But, here, there is no journey. There are many pictures but only one thing. And a painfully cool, over-produced, vacuous thing at that.
Let me justify my position further: While Johnson's interest seems to be reinterpreting nature in vitro or in a tiny, sterile, highly-controlled environment, the result is artwork that would be better suited as the finishing touch in a freshly designed living room rather than as an aesthetic venture in it's own right. The black and white format successfully suffocates any life the images may have had and condemns the photos to a clinical existence.
I read that Mr. Johnson has been a fine art photographer for over 30 years and his skill is immediately apparent. But that's where this story ends.
