about rochelle johnson
Rochelle Johnson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado where she discovered her passion for drawing at an early age. As a child she discovered the work of Lois Mailou Jones and Jacob Lawrence, and was further inspired by the Denver Black Arts Festival in the 1980s. The experience of meeting the artists and seeing their work ignited her passion for the Arts.
In 1989, Johnson enrolled at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where she learned to create stories using oils and watercolors. She attained a degree in Illustration in order to pursue a career in Commercial Art. In 1992, she moved to Seattle, Washington where she worked as a freelance designer creating community theater posters and identity packages for local businesses. These opportunities paid the bills, but she became intrigued by the idea of being a story-teller through her work. In 1997, she entered the annual Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle Minority Art Exhibition where she sold her first non-commercial piece.
In 1999, Johnson returned to Denver and eventually resumed pursuing the idea of story-telling through painting, a calling that had never left her consciousness. In 2005, her artwork was featured on the cover of the novel "When a Sistah's Fed Up", previously on Essence's Top Ten List. Today, Johnson continues to develop her unique style of story-telling through painting from her Denver studio.
artist statment
"To me, art is about gathering data and recording expressed moments that capture the essence of a scene. While I am primarily a figurative artist, I am increasingly interested in the play of abstract geometric forms that begin a painting. I use shape, value and color to expose the emotion and energy of my subject matter.
I grew up in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the heart of Denver and would continually watch how people interacted with one another, in good ways and bad. My paintings are stories of urban people; their struggles and joys, their emotions and their humanity. My work can be as simple as a portrait that captures the spirit of the sitter, or a street scene where a homeless person gathers their thoughts before their next move.
The art happens when the subject unites with form and color to convey feeling in a way that transcends representationalism—where a painting gives a real sense of person and place."
