The feeling a person gets when listening to a certain type of music is quite difficult to capture with an image. It seems like many artists try, but not a lot of them actually succeed in a way that truly connects with the subject matter. Ian Johnson’s work certainly connects, and in a way that is rarely expressed in contemporary styles of painting. Best known for his portraits of jazz musicians, his bold yet understated depictions have been seen on gallery walls and skateboard decks all over San Francisco for the better part of a decade. Johnson’s pieces show a refined appreciation for the music and its protagonists, both widely known and obscure.

This appreciation began when Johnson was a kid and became further engrained through classic rap beats and Stereo Skateboards’ hallmark jazz-laden first video. “My Grandfather used to listen to this jazz program in Syracuse where I was born,” he explains. “I wasn’t really conscious of it at the time, but I think that was the start of it. Having those sounds going on in the background, kind of sinking in somehow. It was kind of in the back of my head somewhere. Then later listening to hip hop and learning where all the samples come from, hearing those horns again. Then [Stereo Skateboards’] A Visual Sound led me into learning and listening to it a lot more.” Combined with artistic influences ranging from Arthur Dove and Paul Klee to Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, these early experiences seem to have led his thoughts in a direction that he has manifested through paint and pen.

After moving to San Francisco and linking up with Kent Uyehara, owner of landmark skate shop FTC, Johnson was presented with opportunity to serve as art director for Western Edition Skateboards from its creation in 1999. Translating his work into deck graphics and developing designs specifically for that medium, Western Edition’s releases over the years have consistently set themselves apart from the pack. Johnson explains a bit of how jazz became a part of the WE aesthetic: “When I was at Pratt I did a drawing of Eric Dolphy for a class that I really liked. I ended up bringing it back to San Francisco when I dropped out, and it was the first graphic we did for Western Edition. From there it was just part of what I did and [continue to] enjoy doing.”

 
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It seems that Johnson has very much realized the capacity of the skateboard deck as a medium through which to present his pieces outside of a gallery setting. Through Western Edition he has released distinct series, in sets of five, one paying tribute to the iconic Victorian houses of the neighborhood from which the company takes its name, another depicting the Miles Davis Quintet in honor of the 50th anniversary of Kind of Blue as well as an abstract set titled “Hard Edge.”

Simply put, Johnson’s gallery work is dope. The title of the same video that he sites as an early influence seems to describe it best: A Visual Sound. Geometric patterns and strong lines of color contrast against calculated portraiture creating a unique sense of motion. When asked about the use of color in his work Johnson explains, “It kind of evolved over time. I used to only do black and white ink drawings for a long time. I think using color was something that was suggested to me and I started incorporating it into my work more. I’m still figuring it out. I like having black and white portraits representing the artists in the past as they were, like statues, and then having colors and patterns represent the music carrying on and being alive now.” Those who have had the opportunity to view his gallery exhibitions are likely to have had the way they both see and hear music enlightened and enhanced and it is evidenced by crowded opening nights and the speed at which his pieces tend to sell.

With many more decks to press and gallery shows to open, Ian Johnson continues to pay a fitting tribute to the players of instruments who took a once disdained genre of music from back rooms in America’s urban centers to nightclubs and concert halls and around the world, influencing future generations of musicians, producers, film makers and artists to look to the past for inspiration moving forward.

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