Statement
Readable:
I like science, but I’m not a scientist. I find that being an artist allows me to explore science with a good amount of granted permission because of the title, ‘artist.’ In other words, I like to walk into laboratories and say ‘I’m an artist and want to make something with this, can you teach me?’ and people (sometimes) do!
Leaning is intoxicating for me, and I want to share that same feeling with a wider audience.
Fancy:
My practice explores physical and conceptual forces which are either naturally imperceptible by humans or have been purposefully concealed from them. These include physical entities such as cosmic rays and particles which are constantly moving through people, to intangible concepts such as marketing propaganda. I utilize the art creation process as a methodology for my own research, and as a vehicle to deploy mechanisms which transmute these unseen forces into the tangible and perceptible.
I find the ‘Ah-Ha!’ moment of understanding, when an idea catalyzes for the first time into a clear concept, to be greatly rewarding. I aim to create works which invite viewer investigation and conversation in an attempt to elicit that same ‘Ah-Ha!’
Bio
Born in Denver, CO
Lives & Works in Denver
Devin Johnson is a Colorado based artist working in photography, new media installation, video, and performance.
Son to an architect father and dance studio owner mother, Devin spent his childhood backstage at performances and on construction sites, fueling a deep curiosity in what lies beneath. This inquisitiveness greatly influences his art practice, whereby he seeks to make visible and interactive things that are normally obfuscated or imperceptible, such as quantum randomness, cosmic particles, and marketing propaganda.
Devin studied at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and continues learning as a diligent autodidact.
Questions:
What’s something crazy you’d do in a heartbeat?
Ride a rocket into space.
If you had a blank sheet of paper, and anything you wrote down on it came true, what would you write?
‘I instantaneously will have complete theoretical and operational knowledge of an elegant, scalable, and easily implementable (with current technology) solution to entropy.’
What was your most recent trip of more than 100 miles?
Back to CO from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array Radio Observatory
What will finally break the internet?
A coronal mass ejection hitting earth.
If you were given a one-minute ad slot during the Super Bowl that you couldn’t sell, what would you fill it with?
I’d use it to promote scientific literacy by screaming at people Shia Labeouf style.
What kind of art speaks to you the most?
Anything which shows ‘icing on the cake’ – overworked, to the point where most wouldn’t notice the detail. I’m a sucker for hidden messages.