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February Issue 2003
City Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Erick R. Johnson
The City Gallery at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC, will present an exhibit of cast iron by local artist Erik R. Johnson, Feb. 7 through Mar. 7, 2003.
Erik R. Johnson is gainfully employed as a sculpture instructor and studio manager at the College of Charleston. After earning his MFA in Sculpture from Tulane University, he held a number of adjunct and temporary teaching positions, which constituted a sort of academic boot camp. Johnson has taught at Loyola, Xavier, Ole Miss, Alabama-Birmingham, and the Memphis College of Art, spreading the gospel of cast iron sculpture across the southeast. He is committed to the use of cast iron as an art medium and has shown widely in exhibitions such as: Iron Tribe, Iron Show, Iron Ore What?, Iron Revival, Iron Bloom, Ferrum, and Fire to Form. When he's not busy in the studio, Johnson likes long walks, cooking, fishing, and making up nonsense words, which he uses in everyday conversation as if they were real. His best friend is a small, fluffy, brown dog, named Brown.
Johnson comments on his work: "Cast iron is a material that is typically used for heavy, industrial applications. It is widely recognized in the form of manhole covers, battleships, and machinery. When transformed into non-utilitarian art objects, the material still refers to its industrial, functional roots. This reference to utilitarian function is important to the symbolic and metaphorical messages in the work. I often use the substitution method (casting) playfully, translating mundane things like burlap and bubble wrap into ironic monuments to our own transience."
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Office of Cultural Affairs at 843/724-7305 or on the web at (www.ci.charleston.sc.us/oca.html).
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