Approach to Hough on the Hill

Concept

Peter Johnston’s work is an emotional, immediate and expressive response to the present. He explores the energy and life that surrounds the moment and explains place through bold use of colour, strong assured form and highly gestural marks.

The search for a truth, a piece of reality that reveals self is his fundamental intention and obsession.

He uses acrylic paint as his prime medium because of its intrinsic versatility and durability but also because it imposes a time element that forces him to work dynamically. Several sketches and paintings are completed before the final piece which he aims to complete within a single intensive day.

A variety of surfaces are employed, from high quality paper to aluminium sheeting for outdoor work but mainly birchwood panels. He has also begun to incorporate vintage frames as a part of his work which he finds in antique shops or auctions locally. These frames come with a patina of history and a suggestion of a previous existence that has been long forgotten. These pieces, the panel and frame become inseparable and permanent, a contrast and exploration between classical and modern, between old and young, between yesterday and today.