Visual Aphasia: John Brinton Hogan
The gallery is pleased to present San Diego-based artist John Brinton Hogan's series of other-worldly, mixed-media landscapes. Having recently held an expansive exhibition at San Diego's Mesa College, the gallery's presentation will be the artist's first solo show in Los Angeles and provide a focused introduction to his fascinating hybrid of photography, digital art, and painting.
Since meeting through a chance studio visit in 2019, I've been eagerly waiting to share John's surreal work. A need to physically engage in the photographic medium led to his sci-fi-inspired series Visual Aphasia which questions man’s complex relationship to the land through wonderfully vibrant and sometimes haunting compositions. They are truly unique works.
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John Brinton Hogan, Climber on the Ascent, Palo Verde Mountains Wilderness Area, near Blythe, California, Autumn, 2013 (Deep Aquamarine and Brown with White Glitter Crust), 2019 -
John Brinton Hogan, Photographer Scouting Locations, South of Palm Springs, CA, March 2015 (Rainbow and Blood Red, with Ivory Pearl and Glitter Blister), 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Artist and Sons on Cliffs Near Watson’s Bay, NSW, Australia, Exact Date Unknown, Probably Winter, 2003 (Turquoise, Green, and Brown with Silver Holographic Glitter Blisters), 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Birdwatchers, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California, Spring, 2009 (Green with Ivory and Orange Glitter Blisters), 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Botanist and Volunteers Identifying Invasive Species, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California, February, 2015 (wine red, purple, and teal with yellow glitter blister, 2018
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John Brinton Hogan, Gallery Director Making Snapshot of Artists..., 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Recreational Hikers Near the Summit of Ghost Mountain, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California, November 2017 (black, turquoise, red/orange with gold pearl and glitter blisters), 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Artist Harvesting Native Plant Seeds, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, near Gila Bend, Arizona, April, 2016 (Rainbow with Variegated Gold Leaf and Glitter Blister), 2018
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John Brinton Hogan, Artists Hiking Toward the Perimeter of the Utah Test and Training Area, August 2013 (Orange and Black with White, Green, and Blue Glitter Flocking), 2014
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John Brinton Hogan, A Group of Artists and Academics at the OXCART Crash Site, near Wendover, Utah, August 2012 (Black, White, Grey and Tan with Red Glitter Blisters), 2018
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John Brinton Hogan, Artist Target Shooting While Waiting for Light, New York Mountains, Mojave National Preserve, California, August 2015 (grey-green pearl and red pearl), 2019
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John Brinton Hogan, Man Gesturing Amidst a Group of Recreational Campers at Coachwhip Canyon, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, March 2014 (Bronze, Pewter, Blue), 2019
John Brinton Hogan's most recent body of work and the exhibition’s focus, Visual Aphasia examines the prospect of a post-human Earth. While images are drawn from his photographed "natural landscapes," extreme distortion of their components creates an alien, inhospitable world, one whose visual details we’ve so far only imagined. Though beginning as “straightforward” photographs, through a series of repetitive processes, these pictures change from a simple description of an event into an opportunity to examine the artist's impulses, motivations, and consciousness, and imagine that of those with whom we share the planet.
After settling on a particular color scheme, Hogan meticulously paints out the human elements, disappearing them from a world irreversibly altered. Layer after layer of acrylic media is applied, sometimes with 20+ coats, until the figures rise from the print surface; What the artist refers to as "blisters." In this work, sci-fi novel illustrations, 70's album covers, and “Finish Fetish” references combine to produce a document describing our species' future. By employing materials normally associated with lighthearted household craft (glossy paints, glitter, holographic appliqué), tension develops between the aura of childlike wonder and a paranoid uncertainty, simultaneously rendering the human presence both familiar and unrecognizable.
The objective, almost taxonomic titles of Hogan’s works stand in stark contrast to the unruly prismatic landscapes they identify. Similarly, the figures glow with glossy dimensionality in relief to the flat, matte world around them. Appearing perhaps like subjects under surveillance through thermal imaging systems, or as if they’ve just been zapped out of existence by the invading tripods of H.G. Wells folklore. The intense vibrancy of his materials further recalls something out of science fiction or psychedelic music videos. The viewer can imagine a future world of extremes, the potential of which Hogan's intensely original work seeks to illustrate.
About the Artist:
John Brinton Hogan's work examines ideas, issues, and artistic interpretation associated with landscape and land use, primarily in the American West. He has exhibited around the world, and his pieces are held in public, institutional, and private collections. Self-educated, Hogan (American, b. 1963) refined his technical skills photographing professional skateboarding during its resurgence in the 1980s, and as a commercial photographer and filmmaker in New York City. He resides in San Diego.
