As we previously announced, Poulsen Gallery in Copenhagen is currently presenting a two-man showcase featuring all new works by Aaron Johnson and Colin Chillag. We've had a chance to visit the gallery recently and capture some of the game-changing paintings that the two American artists prepared for their exhibitions. Both approaching their creative process with a strong sense of curiosity and need for experimentation, Johnson and Chillag are showing the strength and endless possibilities of painting as a medium with their canvases.

Over the years, NYC-based Aaron Johnson has been working with everything from reverse paintings on foil to constructing images with old socks. For this showcase, he focused on his recent stain-based technique. Challenging his ability to manipulate the medium and control the final outlook of the piece, the watered out paint is leading the process by forming unexpected shapes which artist then works around. Adding human or monster features to these blurry shapes, he constructs busy imagery filled with strangest creatures captured in a variety of interactions. Similar to this, a few of the pieces in the exhibition present his ghost copy technique. Pressing the originally painted surface against the canvas, the artist uses this imperfect copy as the base of his work, once again limiting his ability to control the final outlook of his creation.

The other part of the gallery is dedicated to mostly smaller scale canvases by Arizona-based Colin Chillag whose experimentation with painting techniques resulted in some seriously mind-boggling textures. Working from vintage personal photographs as reference, the artist not only captures the image of everyday people during everyday events but also manages to present the passage of time through his work. Often playing with the effect of varnish against the different surface, leaving parts of canvas unpainted, or using subdued tones, it's the texture of his work that definitely strikes in person. The thick layers of wrinkled oils created with his thick impasto technique are evoking the wrinkled skin, adding the vintage feel of the work. Depicting subjects wearing outdated clothes, surrounded by outdated products or captured at now non-existing places, his work is celebrating the strength and timelessness of everyday life moments.

Text and photos by Sasha Bogojev

https://www.gallerypoulsen.com/