clay johnson
A Few Words About the New Paintings
I've always wanted a dog. When I was a kid I had a dog, but that was a long time ago. And after college I spent almost twenty years living in apartments or townhouses, and that didn't seem like enough space for a Labrador Retriever. Because throughout those twenty years of dog-wanting my sights were set unwaveringly on a Lab.
When my family and I moved to Oregon about three years ago, we finally had some space, a decent-sized yard for a dog. So, a few weeks after getting settled in the new house, we drove down to the Humane Society to check out the Labs. Of course there weren't any. Lots of Pit Bulls, but not a Lab in the place. There was, however, a beautiful Lab/Rottweiler mix, very friendly if a little overly energetic. But she was much more Rottweilerish than Lab-like.
The Humane Society volunteer said we could put her on hold over the weekend and think about it.
So now what? She was hard to resist, and that was throwing a wrench in my Lab-having plans.
Needless to say, she lives here now. And her name (Curry) has become, for me, almost synonomous with "dog." If she's not the dog I always wanted, she's the dog I should have wanted.
"And what of the Lab lust?"
"What?"
"The Lab. You said you always wanted a Lab."
"Oh...right. Did I want a Lab? I guess I did. That seems like a long time ago."
The elements that populate my paintings tend to arrive the way my dog did. They sort of knock on the door, suitcase in hand, and I have no choice but to let them in. Anything else would be rude. After a few days (or weeks, or months) I can kick them out if I wish, without seeming like a bad host. I mean, I don't even know them, how long can they really expect to sleep on my couch?
But after they've been here for a while, I may have started to rearrange things around them, without realizing it. They become fixtures in my paintings while my back is turned. They become the dog I should have wanted. And that's usually a good thing because I'm not a planner. I'm better off throwing a party, seeing who shows up, and then helping everyone to get along.
In the end the paintings tell a story. For me it's the story of their own making, but it could really be about anything. And while it's never my intention to depict something, I do enjoy a good story.