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Chris Johanson
The Sunlight of the Spirit Is the Warmth of Love, 2004

Johanson, a key figure among San Francisco’s “Mission School” artists, combines social criticism with a certain optimism in his installations. His work often conceals sophisticated content beneath a seemingly naive, folk-art style of execution.

Made of wood scraps scavenged from the city’s streets, the figures here stand on a brown table that is evocative of the earth. With their thoughts, roles, and names spilling down their sides, the figures seem to represent the relationships between people who compose a society — civilians, scientists, warmongers — and the various problems that exist within it, such as greed and war.

But Johanson mitigates the harshness of these observations by placing the figures before a gigantic, colorful explosion — a recurrent motif in his artworks that he describes as “just super-positive energy.” Though Johanson has observed that “the world’s a mess,” his hope for change finds expression in this juxtaposition of earth and energy.

Artwork Info

Artwork title
The Sunlight of the Spirit Is the Warmth of Love
Artist name
Chris Johanson
Date created
2004
Classification
installation
Medium
acrylic and oil on wood
Dimensions
144 in. × 325 in. × 60 in. (365.76 cm × 825.5 cm × 152.4 cm)
Date acquired
2004
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Purchase through a gift of the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation
Copyright
© Chris Johanson
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2004.231.A-O
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Other Works by Chris Johanson

See other works by Chris Johanson

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