Liselott Johnsson: Immersive Reflections

Liselott Johnsson: Immersive Reflections

The exhibition statement is a poem. It aims to reflect the nature of the exhibition which deals with the poetic space of the sea and the horizon. The material used is very thin and strong spinnaker sail cloth which is painted by immersion (stained) resulting in abstract atmospheric dreamscapes that are shaped and folded.

Artist and registered architect Liselott Johnsson creates geometric paintings, sculptures and architectural installations that highlight overlooked systems that operate and control our daily life. For instance, the current solo show Lifeboat at the Muhlenberg Library in Chelsea of the New York Public Library aimed to reveal systems of language and codes that are so prevalent today. It featured colorful objects and hard edge paintings as substitution cryptograms, which can be decoded and read by using the artist’s invented High Modernist Color Barcode (HMCB).Her work appears both in public architectural places and in art galleries. Ms. Johnsson’s work has been featured in numerous solo shows: Plantes Voyageuses at the cloister of Monastère de Saorge, a renowned baroque monastery located in the South of France, Lifeboat at Muhlenberg Public Library NYPL in Chelsea, New York and “Hello Polly! This is your 9 o’clock wake-up call!” at Glass Cube @ Hotel Indigo, Athens, Ga.; La Poetique des Lavoirs, at the historic washing basins of the alpine village of Saorge in the Alpes-Maritimes, France and “Mad Hot Fox” at Grove Hall, Boston Public Library, Dorchester, Mass.

She has participated in numerous group shows, for instance: Sense of Place at  Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Ga., where her painting B Kör På (Grand Prix) obrained the Jury’s Award; Gathered at MOCA GA in Atlanta, Ga.; Oscillations at Steffen Thomas Museum of Art in Madison, Ga.; It’s Like a Rainbow at the Classic Center, Athens, Ga.; Reclassified, Lesley University College of Art and Design, Cambridge, Mass., and Contemporary Ideas in Art at Rosenthal Gallery, Fayetteville State University, S. C. She also contributed the artwork to the award winning illustrated novel The Book of I, published in fall 2014 by Jaded Ibis Press.

Growing up in Sweden, Ms. Johnsson witnessed the achievements of her grandfather, Carl Andersson, a third generation boat builder, who was at the forefront of sailboat design in Europe. He designed and manufactured the beautiful Vindö sailboats, recognized as elegant classical sailboats and coveted throughout Europe.  Early on, Ms. Johnsson expressed a facility for drawing and was fascinated with art, design and architecture. She obtained her Master of Architecture degree from studies at Ecole d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville in Paris, France, and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Swedish Crown Prince Bertil, representing the Sweden-America Foundation, awarded Ms. Johnsson a scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University in New York, N.Y. At Columbia, she researched European Architecture from 1920 to 1945 under the guidance of renowned professor Kenneth Frampton.

An international architect by profession, Ms. Johnsson specializes in architectural design.  She has worked on numerous single-family, multi-family, mixed-use, office and site plan projects. She has completed projects in France, Sweden, British Virgin Islands and the United States. Her most renowned assignment is Aquamare, a luxury resort in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, which has been featured in numerous publications including the book "Caribbean Hideaways" by Meg Nolan Van Reesema.

Her interest in the relationship between art and architectural space has brought her to curate numerous contemporary art exhibitions. She held the position of Gallery Director at the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art at Georgia Regents University until 2015.

Artistic expression through drawing and painting has always been an important and active part of Ms. Johnsson’s life. In 2012, she completed a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts at Lesley University College of Art and Design (Formerly Art Institute of Boston), Cambridge, Mass., where her mentors and advisors included acclaimed artists Ben Sloat, Wendy White, James Hyde and Fia Backström. During her studies, Ms. Johnsson’s practice expanded beyond painting to include sculpture and architecture, resulting in large-scale art installations. Her thesis Painting Beyond Painting: From Pensiero Debole to an Expanded Practice was recently published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing and is available on Amazon. Painting is now the generator for her full practice as artist, designer and architect.