Rising-star artist Tyrel Johnson, who has received acclaim for his storytelling approach with bronze-and-wood sculptures, reveals his evolution as an artist - including creating new one-of-a-kind multimedia works - in a TV interview. The "All About Billings" show interviewed sculptor Johnson about his evolution as an artist and the new, deeper level of expression in his recent artwork.
BILLINGS, Mont., Sept. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- With two new sculptures, Tyrel Johnson goes deeper in his quest for ultimate expression – an evolution of his artwork that he recently discussed in a TV interview with "All About Billings" host Nancy Brook. Montana artist Johnson, who is based in Billings, spent his twenties honing his skills through hundreds of hours of meticulous anatomy studies, and his thirties finding "my way to make art," he says of his development of a distinctive style – marrying bronze sculpture with lovingly selected and handcrafted wood – that has brought him media acclaim and awards. Now, Johnson is "laying down my notions of what my art 'should' be in favor of expression," he says. "My hands know very well what to do," he adds about forgoing calculation to find greater creative freedom and flow.
Although his bronze works are offered in multiple editions, they remain one of a kind because "the wood is always different and always unique," as he explains to Brooks in the televised interview. Still, part of his current artistic journey includes branching into fully one-of-a-kind pieces "to give collectors something that is exclusively theirs to enjoy," he says, while allowing him to experiment in expanding mediums and concepts.
Johnson took a playful turn with his new work "Rainbow Punk," a one-of-a-kind piece he debuted at the 2024 OutWest Art Show. Creating the sculpture – a boldly-mohawked figure perched on a crescent moon with bright acrylic paint dripping and pooling onto the wooden base – was "the epitome of play for me," he says.
The new piece also offers an underlying message that resonates with his recent evolution as an artist: "Individuality is powerful. The more we find authenticity within – as we become less concerned with behaviors of others – we become more rooted in who we are," he says. That theme spoke to the psychiatrist who acquired the sculpture for her office. "She says it has a calming effect for her patients, who often stare at Rainbow Punk while talking to her," says Johnson. "I'm so delighted about that."
Some years ago, Johnson created another memorable sculpture, "The Bird People," for a show that friend and fellow artist Kevin Red Star was doing, subsequently gifting it to Red Star. Recently exploring his own connection to Native American roots that include growing up participating in sweat lodge ceremonies – a personal practice that continues into the present – Johnson began to envision a new work, "Medicine Rising," as a feminine mirror to "The Bird People," and a way to show his respect for the MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) movement.
Riffing off the movement's red handprint symbol, which evocatively brings awareness to "a very serious and difficult problem in a peaceful yet poignant way," he says, Johnson reimagined it in gold leaf for "Medicine Rising" to represent hope and progress achieved. "The rawhide medicine wheel, and its colors rising up the maple, represent the many people, and the strengths of those who joined together," he explains. "All great causes galvanize people from all political, racial, cultural, and social walks. Think more about what you would lay your life down peacefully for rather than what you would raise a saber for, and we will all be better for it."
Growing up in and working at his family's Montana bronze foundry combined with years working in ultra-high-end custom carpentry has produced an unusual technical skill set that allows Johnson to successfully realize in three dimensions anything he or a client can dream up, including functional art. For the recent Western Design Conference Exhibit + Sale in Jackson, Wyoming, September 5-8, 2024, where he was accepted as a juried artist, he created a new burnt-and-dyed-leather and wood chair from his recently created "Persona" series of personalized art chairs – also recognized in Mountain Living magazine as one of the best seats in Jackson Hole this fall. And Johnson is currently creating a monumental sculpture featuring three horses for a Texas client. The story of that piece was recently featured in an Elite Equestrian magazine article that showed him at work in his Montana studio.
"I take great joy in creating art. The more I embrace that side of me, the more I love what I make, and it sure seems like art lovers enjoy it more as well," Johnson says of this stage of his artistic journey. "There are a handful of artists I watch just to see what they come up with next. I decided it was time to make myself excited to see what I make next. I can't wait to surprise and delight myself. I can't wait to share it with the world."
About Tyrel Johnson Fine Art
The youngest of 16 children, who grew up watching his father and siblings sculpting and working on castings at his father's foundry, Tyrel Johnson's destiny as a maker now plays out in bronze, stone, wood and multimedia from his studio in Billings, Montana, where his passion for three-dimensional expression continues to expand in service to his creative inspiration – from one-of-a-kind creations to functional art to monumental work to highly sought multi-edition bronze and wood sculptures. Whether he's sculpting a six-foot-tall equine-themed monument or a miniature owl and rabbit conceptually locked in the pendulum balance of nature, a sense of story and mission informs his poetic designs. Johnson, whose work has won Best of Show at the 2022 Out West Art Show & Sale and both Best of Show and People's Choice awards at the 2021 Sculpture in the Hills, has been featured in media including Western Art & Architecture, Cowboys & Indians, Mountain Living, Big Sky Journal and the coffee table books Natural Elegance: Luxurious Mountain Living and Foundations: Houses by JLF Architects. He is currently represented by FoR Fine Art in Montana and Arizona, the R-Diamond Gallery in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Integral Thread in Denver. For more information, visit tyreljohnsonfineart.com or follow @tyreljohnsonart on Instagram.
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SOURCE Tyrel Johnson Fine Art
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