David Richey Johnsen
Works:
Cruising the Floor
Performance in Purple
Secret
Study in Pink
Crimson Evening
This Hall’s a Rockin’
Social Study in Red
Whistle Stop Review
Night on the Town
French Quarter Evening
Evening at the Opera
Staircase
Bread and Roses
Social Study in Green
Bio:
David Richey Johnsen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. As a young boy he was introduced to the pleasure of painting by his parents. After receiving his fine art degree from Utah Tech, he decided to pursue a career as an artist. When he relocated to San Francisco, David first experienced “the moving masses” of a large city. He was inspired by the fast pace of the streets, and found the city teaming with characters from all walks of life. These people and places would become the subjects of many of his paintings.
Mr. Johnsen rejects the avante garde influences of recent decades, his work is instead a unique synthesis of color, movement and story. The compositions are highly complex, both in construction and interpretation, yet they are easily enjoyed for their sheer narrative value. In each of his paintings we see the influence of the great American artists of the 20th century. Like George Bellows, Grant Wood, John Sloan, and Reginal Marsh, Johnsen approaches his canvas with a storyteller’s inspiration. The figures leap from the canvas, alive with laughter, envy and passion. His paintings “read” like great American novels; the characters appear to be from another era yet seem strangely familiar. A subtle palette is used to emphasize the human element. Soft tones and highlights are fused then finished with bright energetic accents. The images resonate with the painter’s love for his subject.
Since moving back to Utah and settling in a small town, David has found inspiration for some of his recent works. The paintings, contemporary interpretations of this once thriving “boom town” of the 30′s capture the color and the mood of the period with retrospective reverence. The works recall the town’s colorful characters, remembered reveries of times past bathed in the golden light of memory.
The large scale David Richey Johnsen commonly uses in some of his work creates an epic quality, while other compositions are smaller and more intimate in treatment. Although he frequently uses classic Art Deco architecture in the composition, it is never allowed to overpower the subject. Instead he prefers to use it as a bold and magnificent stage whose elegance underscores and elevates the human drama.
David Richey Johnsen’s work is included in such notable collections as Universal Studios, Sony, CBS Records, and Turner Network. Private collectors include Jackie Collins, Sid Sheinberg, Marilu Henner, John Barry, MBNA and many others