Yantra, 2008
Acrylic on linen
In 5 parts, overall 180 x 320 cm

artist profile

Tim Johnson

born

1947

lives and works

Sydney, Australia

education

University of New South Wales, Australia, 1966–70
University of Sydney, Australia, 1966–70

about the artist

Blues melt into greens, which then spill over yellows that evolve into pinks in an atmospheric realm laid onto the canvas in Tim Johnson’s paintings. A master of integration, the artist adopts motifs from a vast array of cultures, times, and places, and systematically allocates them within his compositions in a manner that defies hierarchy and perspective. Buddhist iconography is flanked with anime stills, which lie next to Australian Aboriginal imagery framed by elements from classical Chinese and Tibetan painting. Johnson presents an eccentric yet lyrical conflation of art histories and proffers the finished product to his audience for a universal meditation. A highly respected artist, Johnson was honored with a major retrospective, Tim Johnson: Painting Ideas, which traveled in Australia between 2009 and 2010 from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney to the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane to the Ian Potter Museum of Art in Melbourne. His work has also been included in many group exhibitions all over the world, such as Roundabout, which traveled from the City Gallery Wellington in New Zealand to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel.

  • Selected exhibition history
  • Permanent collections
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Griffith University, Australia

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia

Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia