“My work explores patterns in nature that exist at the extremes of scale. Using the shapes of diseases and cures, maps of the universe, or the molecular structure of pollutants – in short, microscopic or macroscopic ‘landscapes’ – it depicts a physical reality that is invisible to the naked eye…The Tree of Life and Death Series pairs historic compositions of lush floral still lives with images of diseases and their cures as seen through a microscope. The cycle of life and death and growth and decay that these compositions originally used as an allegory for the fleeting nature of life is repeated and represented by physical structures that are this process incarnate. Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough and The Plague sit amongst Penicillin, Streptomyces and Micromonospora, a bouquet of healing and death suspended.”
Born in Evanston, Illinois, Kysa Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. The winner of several awards, including a Pollock Krasner Foundation grant, she has completed a permanent installation for the concourse level of the Empire State Building, New York City. Over the years, she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. The subject of many publications, her work has also been extensively collected.
www.kysajohnson.com
Website
http://www.kysajohnson.com
