Gabriella Johnson
Artist & Maker

I call myself an eclectic artist as that is my nature, I don’t really enjoy specialising in one practice, although I know the value of it, I relish a creative life with diversity which keeps me busy and continually exploring different artistic skills.

Using a variety of mediums to suit personal and commission work, with hoards of materials and memorabilia from antique to modern, my work styles merge and meander, combining 2D works with textural and sculptural elements.
Assemblage mixed media art works and painting and drawing, are my main practices and passions.

You can read in more detail of Gabriella’s artistic practices below.

I have been making my “Memorabilia Boards” since 2008 which are colourful works of collected treasures in a single colour scheme. The items used in my practice have been collected, (hoarded) throughout my life, sourced from bygone decades up to the modern era, often stirring nostalgia for the viewer.
These assemblage mixed media works are small squares of carefully curated history, conveying the large scales of mass consumption and production we create as humans, via a 10x10cm canvas panel carefully encased and secured inside a hinged box frame so as to interact with your board when you choose. (Some items remain interactive/moveable on the canvas which I endeavour to include at least one of, in every artwork)
Most Memorabilia Boards contain around 50+ items within a seemingly impossible to hold surface mass, of 10x10cm…

‘Parallel Universe’ 2020 Biro ink on brown paper.

‘Parallel Universe’
2020
Biro ink on brown paper.

ILLUSTRATION

I have been building a collection of busy imaginary worlds of mostly organic shapes, peculiar architecture and curious pattern work all heavily based within surrealism.

The figure drawings are just so, as to invite you to immerse yourself in their world as they are… small, humble, exploratory beings, living within vast lands of richness, chaos and complexities.

Although the idea came to me and I liked the style of stick figures within these drawings, they are probably unknowingly a small nod to L.S Lowry, as I am a personal fan and have a few prints on the wall at home. I like the anonymity of these figures in Lowry’s paintings. They convey the volume of populations within cities, existing among countless others just like you, bringing feelings of both community and alienation. One of the things in which I think Lowry either knowingly or unknowingly portrays, is a reminder of the fact that you are one within millions of beings at most times on any given continent on this planet.
My figures, I made more alien-like and with less personal character than Lowry’s figures, a more extensive reminder of that we are primarily all the same and we could endeavour to emotionally and mentally exist in such a way.

I’m also an admirer of M.C Escher and the illusions he creates within his architectural designs. I am now beginning to enjoy and develop purposefully creating an element of optical illusion within these worlds and the buildings that come to be in them. Something I am continually exploring with this work, as I seem to gravitate towards architecture and brickwork as a key element. A building structure or a careful doodle is often my starting point for each imaginary world and I see where my pen takes me around that.

‘Blue Memorabilia Board’ 2016 Mixed media on primed canvas.

‘Blue Memorabilia Board’
2016
Mixed media on primed canvas.

‘Pink Memorabilia Board’
2021
Mixed media on primed canvas.

MEMORABILIA BOARDS

Memorabilia Boards are mixed media assemblage works of collected treasures, from antique to modern, in a single colour scheme to appreciate the many hues of one colour.
Squares of carefully curated history always tightly arranged like a puzzle, conveying the large scales of consumption and production as created by humans, and lots of nostalgia too. Each Memorabilia board contains over 50 items within a seemingly impossible to hold surface mass.

I decided to totally downscale a final exam project piece in 2008, the conclusion of a ‘Lost & Found’ project which suited me enormously as I was and still am, forever collecting lost or broken trinkets and treasures from the pavements or paths of most places I go.
Exam requirements meant my final piece had to be size A2, and I hated working with the large scale at the time, but I loved the look of my puzzle-like arrangement art and so I set out to find the finest miniature canvases that I could and got to work with my many hoards I had been collecting since childhood.
As a lover of trinkets and antiquities I began collecting the small items that I use in my young teens building upon my childhood collections, and often treasure hunting around charity shops and car boot sales in my spare time.

I have continued to refine the presentation of these works which are now presented on a 10 x 10cm triple primed square canvas, and fitted securely encased inside a square, hinged box frame to protect from dust or damage. I take great care to make sure each item is extremely securely fitted to the canvas with a clean and neat aesthetic.
The hinged frames can be opened on the wall as to interact with your board when you choose, as I endeavour to include at least one interactive item within each artwork. The glass frame can then be closed shut with a secure and invisible magnetic closure.

The original A6 series of Memorabilia Boards will be available as individual bordered A5 giclée prints, presented with backing card, sealed, signed and numbered.
Also in sets of postcard giftboxes containing 2 of each colour.

This original A6 portrait series of Memorabilia Boards will be available to purchase as original mixed media works in the future, encased inside custom-made frames.
‘Harmony’ 2020 Watercolour, Ink & Pencil.

‘Harmony’
2020
Watercolour, Ink & Pencil.

PORTRAITURE

The mediums that I use within portraiture include black ink in a detailed graphic style, watercolour paintings and some slightly more hyper-realistic work using Faber Castell polychromos pencils.
I am currently relishing working with pencil to practice animal portraiture and hyper-realistic techniques.

I particularly enjoy trying to capture emotion within expression and have always very fondly drawn the most extreme of facial expressions and contortions within drawings.
I’d like to hone my skills further here and try to convey particular emotions without the seemingly obvious facial pose which might express it.

You can view the styles of portraiture that I currently offer, in the gallery of work on this site, which is a mixture of personal, gifted and paid commission work.

The gallery is updated regularly with new works.

‘Max the Dog’
2021
Watercolour on 300gsm

 Email: gabriellajohnsonartist@gmail.com