Floresh (Primary Title)
Martin Johnson, American, born 1951 (Artist)
Fifty Works for Fifty States: In 2008, in a unique partnership with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Vogels distributed twenty-five hundred works across the country, giving fifty works to one art museum in each of the fifty states. This exhibition, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, showcases the fifty works VMFA received as part of that initiative, which bears the same title. As a diverse and rich body of work, the Vogels' generous giftattests to their passion and commitment to sharing contemporary art with the public.
Martin Johnson The Vogels first met Johnson in the late 1970s when the couple visited his New York City studio. They followed Johnson's work closely until the mid-1980s when he moved to Virginia, where he has remained since. While Johnson's work embraces an eclectic variety of aesthetic forms and images, several consistent themes emerge, including the passage of time. Timely follows the three-part compositional formula Johnson has used for decades: the black strip across the top resembles camera film that advances forward; the central portion signifies "Gray Matter," which he defines as color, shape, and thought; the bottom edge uses language to address the human impulse to label even the most intangible and overwhelming of concepts. Floresh features a smiley face in the form of a lurid, crudely sprayed circle and curved line, suggesting a subversive, manic take on this universal symbol for happiness.
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