In the modern world, black music stars can rent out whole floors of the world’s top hotels for themselves and their entourage with just a swipe of a platinum credit card, but of course things weren’t always like that, especially in America. Imagine telling Kanye that he couldn’t stay as a guest at the same venue he was performing at because of his skin colour.
That, however, was the reality for some of the 20th Century’s greatest music pioneers, pushing the boundaries of their craft while at the same time subject to appalling discrimination. Though it is half a century since the USA’s Civil Rights marches demanded equality for African Americans, the scars of segregation still and will remain. With his collection A Ghost of a Chance, San Francisco artist Ian Johnson has called on a line-up of jazz musicians from the period between 1940 and 1960, when both creative output and racial tensions were at their height.
Featuring household names and unsung heroes alike, Johnson’s paintings are striking portraits, rendering the subjects in abstract with graphical effects and patterns to lift them from their backgrounds or obscure their identities. Johnson is exhibiting in his hometown at Shooting Gallery until 7 September.
Ian Johnson,
A Ghost of a Chance
Installation View
Photo, Derek Macario
Ian Johnson,
Four Women 2
Ink and gouache on paper
9 x 11
Ian Johnson,
Somebody Else’s World
Acrylic and gouache on wood panel
24 x 18
Ian Johnson,
A Ghost of a Chance
Installation View
Photo, Derek Macario
Ian Johnson,
One Never Knows
Acrylic and gouache on wood panel
8 x 10
Ian Johnson,
A Ghost of a Chance
Installation View
Photo, Derek Macario
Ian Johnson,
When It’s Sleepytime Down South
Acrylic and gouache on wood panel
10 x 8
Ian Johnson,
A Ghost of a Chance
Installation View
Photo, Derek Macario
Ian Johnson,
Trio Of Doom
Acrylic and gouache on wood panel
10 x 8
