Circular Seas is a collection of works by artist Jamie Johnson. Taking inspiration from urban green spaces and his residency at Cove Park, Johnson created these works in reflection of events in his personal life. Apart from this, the contextual information for each piece is absent, which liberates the viewer to discover their own interpretation.
The pieces are abstract, and the longer I spent looking at them, the more stories and meaning I saw. The pieces carry recognisable symbols and organic forms. The majority of these works depict seascapes through their blue tones, with their forms resembling corals and anemones. Marbled paper was used in Red Morning and Undergrowth and effectively portrays a water environment, and the use of curved, undulating shapes in Soakin Guise, Sediment run, Shuttle Duck and Red Morning work together to evoke an ocean landscape subject to the abrasion of waves.
The pieces are also united through the creation of precariously balanced forms, seen particularly in Pool & Arch, Undergrowth and Heal. Abstract shapes pile up on top of each other, leaning to create a feeling of instability and precariousness. There is playfulness in the pieces through the use of bright colours and multitudinous shapes. This contributes again to a feeling of instability whilst also creating an underlying sense of future destruction and environmental change.
Upon closer look, some of the pieces, such as Sediment Run, resemble coffee cups and other forms of litter. This elicits a darker theme in the works- the negative impact of humans on the environment. This suggests a discordance amongst the pieces, with the darker themes conflicting with the joyful colours and shapes.
Thought Tunnels present a terrestrial environment rather than a marine. Along the top of the composition, forms resemble industrial infrastructure- a source of pollution and environmental degradation. This piece showed a cross-section of the soil and the presence of bright colours, which recalls plastic pollution.
The bridges and ladders embedded in these paintings encourage a sense of a journey. Heal particularly seemed to present a landscape through which a journey must be taken, and Lathe Valley resembled a map.
These motifs were small in relation to the whole piece, making the human point of view seem insignificant. This collection of works is exciting due to the antagonism between playfulness and severity. The use of multimedia allows viewers to interact with different textures and forms, and the wide colour palette invokes multiple perspectives.
It is the influences from Johnson’s personal life and the invitation for personal interpretation which excite me most about this exhibition; it gives the viewer the freedom to engage without being ‘wrong’. The collection also places importance on personal experience and how we can use creativity to process life events, something the art world often fails to highlight.
‘Circular Seas‘ by Jamie Johnson is exhibiting at Summerhall until 26th April, open Wednesday–Sunday, between 12-6pm.
Image Credits: All courtesy of Matthew Barnes, artworks by Jamie Johnson, sourced from press release package.