Anna Johnson: Chromatella

8 - 29 March 2025
Works
Chromatella is a Nymphaea (water lily) whose centre is bright lemon cadmium and petals pale champagne. Lilies, of all water bulbs, bear the most engulfing scent. Colour can be the same way, languidly sensual or aggressive and tectonic.

My palette springs from unnatural contrasts within the natural world. Walking through the flower markets in Flemington I seek out the most incongruent hues and carry them back to the studio. Exploring late 19th century painting, I interrogate the extreme chromatic fragments that build the whole.

Formally, the tension in my work dwells in two impulses: a homage to lyrical Romanticism and the austerity of colour field abstraction. Compositionally, I battle the confines of the square. I perceive most terrains as aerial rather than terrestrial, so many of my forms refer to clouds and night sky shadows. I am drawn to the sky because light is always shifting and forms mutate. Look away and it all changes.

Anna Johnson, 2025


  • Anna Johnson, Womble, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Womble, 2024
    oil stick, oil paint & acrylic on linen
    198 x 111 cm
  • Anna Johnson, Con Una Rosa, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Con Una Rosa, 2025
    oil, oil stick, & acrylic on linen
    137 x 153 cm
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Sound and Vision, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Sound and Vision, 2025
    oil stick & acrylic on linen
    111 x 198 cm
  • Anna Johnson, Bowery and Spring, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Bowery and Spring, 2024
    acrylic on linen
    182 x 137 cm
  • Anna Johnson, Nanzen-ji, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Nanzen-ji, 2024
    acrylic on linen
    153 x 137 cm
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Habit Rouge, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Habit Rouge, 2024
    acrylic on linen
    111 x 198 cm
  • Anna Johnson, Daphne and Apollo, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Daphne and Apollo, 2025
    oil stick & acrylic on linen
    153 x 137 cm
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Fishnets & Cigarettes, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Fishnets & Cigarettes, 2025
    acrylic on linen
    153 x 137 cm
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Hokusai, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Hokusai, 2025
    acrylic on linen
    153 x 137 cm
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Under the Cherry Moon, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Under the Cherry Moon, 2024
    acrylic on canvas
    122 x 122 cm (framed)
    Sold
  • Anna Johnson, Cleopatra, 2024
    Anna Johnson
    Cleopatra, 2024
    acrylic & oil stick on wood
    95 x 95 cm (framed)
  • Anna Johnson, Bari Vecchia, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Bari Vecchia, 2025
    acrylic on canvas
    95 x 100 cm
  • Anna Johnson, Shalimar, 2025
    Anna Johnson
    Shalimar, 2025
    acrylic on linen
    153 x 137 cm
Video