April Zanne Johnson art – Circle Foundation for the Arts

What themes does your work involve?

My body of work revolves around creating parallel planes existing within internal and external environments. Recurring themes include predictive coding, pareidolia, technology in comparison to the natural world and hallucinatory landscape imagery.

Describe your creative process.

I work in series of paintings at a time. I continuously have multiple projects at various stages of development in my studio. Often I will focus on one project or series, then move to the next while I am waiting for the paint to cure. Ideas are always there; usually, the last project or series influences the next.

What influences your work? What inspires you? Why do you make art?

It’s a way to process the world around me. The natural environment has always influenced my work. I have been working with sound to pull subconscious imagery through myself, almost as a conduit to transfer the images onto the painting surface in the early stages. I try not to make too much sense of the process and to just allow it to flow freely through me. I have been making art my entire life as a way to communicate, to release information collected, and to process emotion.

What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?

Good art comes from the artist’s own experiential history. It comes from the heart. It comes from a need to communicate whatever needs to be presented, yet effectively and skillfully.

What is the role of the artist today?

To provoke questions, generate communication and collect information. Let us make the world think about what could be, and about what hasn’t been found yet. Artists research the past, develop ideas and make the world a better, more interesting place for the future.