Lee Johnson
River Study V, 2026
Oil, oil pastel on canvas
30 x 40 cm
Framed in 5mm walnut
Framed in 5mm walnut
River Study paintings, 2026 The group of River Study works are made in Johnson’s London studio, almost 100 miles from their source in the Suffolk countryside of ‘Constable Country’. Paintings...
River Study paintings, 2026
The group of River Study works are made in Johnson’s London studio, almost 100 miles from their source in the Suffolk countryside of ‘Constable Country’. Paintings are static images, but the moments that feed them - and that they depict - are fluid, transient, mutable. This is the great paradox of painting. Yet as viewers we are subject to constant change - we grow older, more learned, draw from ever-richer experiences - so perhaps paintings are not so static after all.
Drawings made directly in front of a motif may hold information, but the memory of making them is what the River Study paintings are actually based upon - pure experiences of looking. Although not just looking at what’s on the surface but to the depths further beneath. The act of drawing is archeological, exposing moments, touching raw nerves in real time.
And if drawing is considered archeological, then perhaps painting could be viewed as architectural, utilising the archeological digs to build, compose, add structure. Ask any painter and they will tell you that they do not paint an idea, but more of a mosaic of unearthed sensations that are transportive yet deeply rooted in the painter’s lifelong truth.
The group of River Study works are made in Johnson’s London studio, almost 100 miles from their source in the Suffolk countryside of ‘Constable Country’. Paintings are static images, but the moments that feed them - and that they depict - are fluid, transient, mutable. This is the great paradox of painting. Yet as viewers we are subject to constant change - we grow older, more learned, draw from ever-richer experiences - so perhaps paintings are not so static after all.
Drawings made directly in front of a motif may hold information, but the memory of making them is what the River Study paintings are actually based upon - pure experiences of looking. Although not just looking at what’s on the surface but to the depths further beneath. The act of drawing is archeological, exposing moments, touching raw nerves in real time.
And if drawing is considered archeological, then perhaps painting could be viewed as architectural, utilising the archeological digs to build, compose, add structure. Ask any painter and they will tell you that they do not paint an idea, but more of a mosaic of unearthed sensations that are transportive yet deeply rooted in the painter’s lifelong truth.