Lucas Johnson (artist)

Lucas Johnson (October 24, 1940 – August 31, 2002) was an American artist and major force in the Texas art scene from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.

Largely self-taught, he mastered numerous techniques, including egg tempera, pen and ink drawing, silverpoint, oil and acrylic painting, and the printmaking disciplines of aquatint, etching, lithography, serigraphy, drypoint and mezzotint.

He was inspired by politics, music, fishing and the culture of Mexico, where he lived for a decade.

His unique vision found expression in a wide range of subjects, from haunting, shamanic beings and quirky aquatic life to enigmatic, volcanic landscapes and still lifes of the orchid species he collected and cultivated.

Johnson was born in Hartford, Connecticut on October 24, 1940.

At the age of seven, his family relocated to San Gabriel, California.

At some point in elementary school, the youngster visited the Huntington Library on a class field trip.

This first encounter with serious art, specifically Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, would shape Johnson's life.

After graduating high school, Johnson enrolled at the University of California-Los Angeles to pursue a degree in marine biology.

But, realizing his true calling as that of an artist, he dropped out before his junior year.

Johnson traveled widely as a young man, working his way across the country with a series of odd jobs.

He taught skiing, herded cattle and harvested wheat, before landing in New Orleans in 1960.

By studying books, he taught himself basic art techniques, and then honed his craft making paintings for tourists in Jackson Square.

During his stay in New Orleans, Johnson befriended figurative artist George Tooker, who encouraged the young painter to try his hand at egg tempera, Tooker's medium of choice.

Johnson left New Orleans for New York, where he met a group of writers that included poet and editor Daniel Halpern, and the poet Joel Cohen.

In the mid-1960s, Johnson made the acquaintance of Dorman and Diane David, a Houston-based brother and sister who owned a rare bookstore and art gallery.

Dorman frequently visited Mexico in search of historical documents and Texana.

In 1962, at Cohen's invitation, Johnson accompanied the writer to Mexico City.

When Cohen returned to the U.S., Johnson cashed in his return ticket and stayed in Mexico.

He would live there for the next ten years.

In Mexico, Johnson immersed himself in the country's humanist and socio-political art traditions, eventually becoming a first-rate artist.

His circle of friends included Mexican and expatriate writers, artists, musicians and actors, including poet Margaret Randall, composer Conlon Nancarrow, Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, Sculptor Naomi Siegmann, and humanist draftsman José Luis Cuevas.

At the time, Mexico City's avant garde art community was rebelling against its predecessors, the "Big Three" of the mural movement, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Painters of the new generation were looking to widen their horizons by embracing European and American artistic influences.

Within a year of his arrival, Johnson was exhibiting in galleries and other venues alongside leading Mexican artists.

Among the sites showcasing his work were the Galeria Sagitario, a co-op, of sorts, and the Galeria de Arte Misrachi, a venue specializing in Mexican "Old Masters."

Initially, Johnson exhibited only drawings, which were lauded as the product of a consummate draftsman.

From 1964 until it closed in 1972, David Gallery regularly featured Johnson's paintings and drawings in solo shows.

He would start showing his paintings in 1967.

They were received with similar enthusiasm.

In 1972, Johnson and his third wife Patricia Covo, a native Mexican of European heritage, returned to the U.S., first to New Mexico and then to Houston, Texas.

In Houston's vibrant art scene of the era, Johnson's reputation grew and he rapidly developed a following.

Covo Johnson founded a gallery, Covo de Iongh, in 1975.

Johnson signed on with Moody Gallery in 1975.

He exhibited there until his death; the gallery still handles his work.

Johnson's oeuvre has been characterized as "imagist", a term that usually refers to a short-lived, early-20th century poetic style.

Related to Surrealism, Imagism was advanced by T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), among others.

Similar to Surrealism, Imagist art, whether written or visual, employs recognizable figures, locations and objects, but juxtaposes them in fantastic or unreal ways, as metaphors.

Mysterious figures, landscapes, as well as aquatic and plant life were all source material and subject matter for Johnson's work.

She represented her husband's work, and that of Mexican artists, until the gallery ceased operations in 1978.