Gallery hosts abstract art for interpretation

Barry Johnson works with large canvases, deep acrylics, and tape. Currently the artist lives in Portland, having lived in New York for 13 years. Johnson has his work shown in public and private galleries, including federal government buildings, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City and the city building of Portland. He is showing his collection in the Fireplace Gallery through June 10.

One of the first pieces seen upon entry of the Student Union is “Yellow Conversations,” a 60-by-48-inch work of art. The name takes shape on the canvas as small bits and pieces of black, blue, and red paint find their way around the vastness of yellow color.

Lines cut across every piece of Johnson’s collection. Working with paint myself, I could tell these lines and areas of color were created by layers of paint and tape meticulously placed by the artist.

At first I felt lost in this piece, with no real focus point. Looking closer at the different pieces I found disciplined chaos, geometry, and abstract visuals. With paintings such as Johnson’s works, everyone sees something different. “Yellow Conversations” told me a story of friends smiling and chatting for hours on end. Some people might think that sounds crazy, but that’s the beauty of art. The painting may remind one of the ever-so-iconic, yellow smiley face and the dominant lines may point to similar imagery like that of a clock face.

A second painting, also on a 60-by-48-inch canvas, reminded me of the PDX airport. “Blue Note” is predominantly a blue-turquoise color with black around the edges of the canvas. Sticking to the theme of the collection, lines run across the painting in cobalt blue, orange, yellow, and red acrylics. Though, it’s not the beloved 1987 PDX carpet that this photo reminded me of; it’s the new carpet. Both “Blue Note” and the new PDX carpet include a blue-turquoise dominant color, with curves lines overlapping in contrasting colors. It can even be seen in his piece little red squares, similar to the red dots in PDX airport’s new carpet.

“Coney Island” is a third piece in Johnson’s collection. The central color of the painting is a sky blue. Again, the artwork incorporates layers of paint shown by tape that has been stripped away from the canvas. The first layer seems to be a mix of a lighter blue and red, the second layer a yellow and red, and a third layer in black, before being topped with the sky-blue acrylic paint. The painting could be compared to the actual Coney Island scene – a viewer might actually start to see something familiar, whether it be a bright balloon or roller coaster-like line.

If you are a fan of abstract pieces I would recommend you go and visit the Fireplace Gallery. Johnson’s collection will be in the Student Union through June 10. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8am to 5 p.m. on Friday.