Larry Johnson (born July 25, 1959) is an American artist living and working in Los Angeles.[1]
Johnson’s photographic works belong to the output of the Pictures Generation, utilizing photographic techniques, cryptographic systems and his own encyclopedic memory[2] to create multi-entendre layers of image and text. Johnson’s humorous and often cutting commentaries on his own culture’s exported ideologies have made him one of the foremost artists of his generation.[3]
Larry Johnson was raised in the Middle American town of Lakewood.[2] He was born on July 25, 1959, to his father, a AAA baseball player, and his mother, a homemaker. Johnson began studying at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1978 and graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He stayed with the school and went on to receive a Masters of Fine Arts in 1984.[4]
While studying at CalArts Johnson mentored under the Conceptual artist Douglas Huebler and worked alongside fellow students Stephen Prina and Christopher Williams.[4] Johnson is both heir to an education received at CalArts and to the “camp” cultural practice of Kenneth Anger’s films and bestsellers Hollywood Babylon.[5] During this time he also met Richard Prince, who visited the institute in 1984. Johnson cites Prince as an early influence on his work and credits the meeting as leading to his inclusion in his first New York exhibition, the 1987 "Perverted by Language" curated by Robert Nickas.[6]
Johnson has taught as a professor in Los Angeles art colleges and universities for over thirty years[specify], durring which time he also served as the chair of the Otis College of Art and Design's department of Photography.[7] He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at Otis as well as an occasional guest lecturer at ArtCenter.[citation needed][3]
A quintessentially Los Angeles artist, Johnson's work investigates the inherent contradictions between the gleaming surface and underlying cynical logics of American culture. His works often reference the idiosyncratic languages of animation, graphic and commercial design, pornography and advertising. Johnson was trained in pre-digital commercial graphic design production and often foregrounds techniques such as the paste-up, commonly used to prepare “camera ready” material for print.[8]
Larry Johnson is an Los Angeles art world cult figure. A confirmed bachelor, he is famously elusive (has no car, no phone, and uses a Hotmail email address). Johnson has been quoted as saying "In a city of stars, bars and cars, I'm a fan who never drives".[9]