LEGACIES AND LICENSE, 2013
Remembering Wasp Killer
I met Vernon Fisher in 1990. He was an extraordinary artist, a brilliant educator, and a compelling figure in the Texas arts community. His impact on the aesthetic perspectives of myself and many others is incalculable.
I was fortunate to be his studio assistant for a time in 2001. What a treat it was to work with him at the Main Street studio. We talked about the art business, and about what we were seeing in cinema, broadcast media, and literature. We talked about process. Vernon often recommended Jaynes’s book on consciousness. I read it, of course, but I was looking outside the intellect for answers. I told him that when I read Kerouac in 1993, my whole life shifted—transiency, for me, became state from which all truth would spill forth. I wanted fewer layers between me and the world. “Awe, romance” he muttered to himself. Vernon chided me on more than one occasion about sentimentality in my work.
To me, Vernon’s mastery of form and content lay in presenting romantic, deeply emotional work cloaked as cerebral processes of coding and resonant meaning. It was the cerebral part that was always discussed, never the other. Jaynes’s posit was his own coded message to his legion of acolytes. I’ll leave it at that.
In 2013, I made a painting titled Legacies and License. The piece used one of Vernon’s well-recognized visual cues: text over image. The accompanying short prose was a piece of my own personal navigation, ending with a nod to my heroes.
Solo Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2015 NeedlestoMojave,Brand10ArtSpace,FortWorth,TX 2012 NewWork,ConduitGallery,Dallas,TX
2010 NewWork,GeorgeBillisGallery,L.A.,LosAngeles,CA 2008 ArtBall,DallasMuseumofArt,Dallas,TX REMGallery,SanAntonio
2007 MuseumofSoutheastTexas,Beaumont,TX
2006 AnyaTishGallery,Houston,TX
2006 NewWork,ConduitGallery,Dallas,TX
2005 KidderSmithGallery,Boston,MA
2005 REMGallery,SanAntonio,TX
2005 GeorgeBillisGallery,L.A.,LosAngeles,CA
2003 JohnnyRobertson:RecentWork,ConduitGallery,Dallas,TX
2003 Smog,McKinneyAvenueContemporary,Dallas,TX
2002 MagsaysayBlvd.andOtherPlaces,FourWallsGallery,FortWorth, TX
2002 StillinHollywood,500XGallery,Dallas,TX
1999 JohnnyRobertson:Lordsburg/ElCentro,Good/BadArtCollective, Denton, TX
1998 CoraStaffordGallery,Denton,TX
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 Cityscapes,GeorgeBillisGallery,L.A.,LosAngeles,CA
2009 Strokes,UniversityofDallas,curatedbyJohnPomara
2008 #11,And/OrGallery,Dallas,curatedbyTitusO’brien
2004 GoingWest,ArthouseatJonesCenter,Austin,TX(CuratedbyErin Keever)
2004 Meanwhile,Elsewhere…,ArlingtonMuseumofArt,Arlington,TX (Curated by Charlie Wylie)
2003 NewAmericanTalent#18,Arthouse at Jones Center, Austin,TX
2002 ElMachoGrande,PlanoArtsCenter,Plano,TX
2002 Cool:RobertCaslin&JohnnyRobertson,R.E.M.Gallery, SanAntonio,
2003 ArtsLeagueofHouston,Houston,TX
2003 NewAmericanTalent#18,ArthouseatJonesCenter,Austin,TX
2002 ElMachoGrande,PlanoArtsCenter,Plano,TX2002 Cool:RobertCaslin&JohnnyRobertson,R.E.M.Gallery,SanAntonio, TX
2002 NoHistorytoSpeakof,butGreatShoppingandFantasticFood:NewArt2
Walls Exhibition Space, Fort Worth, Texas.
2000 Reduction, New Works Space – McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX 2000
From
2002 Dallas, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX (Curated by Ted
Kincaid)
2002 SurfaceTensions,GalvestonArtCenter,Galveston,TX
2002 GroupExhibition,ConduitGallery,Dallas,TX
2002 Duo,HaggertyGallery,Dallas,TX(CuratedbyChristineBisetto)
2002 Sublime:TheLandscapeRe-Envisioned,ArlingtonMuseumofArt,
Arlington, TX (Curated by Anne Allen)
2000 500XGallery,Dallas,TX
2000 RealSpace,PurpleOrchid,Dallas,TX(CuratedbyRobertCaslin) 2000 LosAngeles/TheSocial:JohnnyRobertson&RandallFriedman,Four
Robertson & Jodi Lee, Conduit Gallery Annex, Dallas, TX
2000 The Tao of Painting: Principles in Monochrome, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX
1999 Handling Art, 803 Commerce Exhibition Space, Fort Worth, TX (Curated by Rachel Harris)
1999 21 & Up, 500X Gallery, Dallas, TX
1999 Expo ‘99, 500X Gallery, Dallas, TX (Juried by Rick Brittell)
1999 In the House, Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas, TX (Curated by Victoria Montelongo)
1992 The Instinctive “I”, Gallery – One Bell Plaza, Dallas, TX (Curated by Victoria Montelongo, Deborah Rameriz, and
Maryanna Sobstad)
Collections
Haas Moto Museum and Sculpture Gallery, Dallas Accenture Corporation, Irving
American Airlines, Dallas
Hyatt Regency, Dallas
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth Private Collections
Education
1998 M.F.A., Painting and Museum Education, University of North Texas
1991 B.F.A., Painting, University of North Texas
Awards
2002 New American Paintings Seventh Western Competition. Jurors: Michael Auping, Chief Curator, and Andrea Karnes, Curator, Museum of Modern Art Fort Worth.
2001 Otis & Velma Dozier Travel Grant, Awarded through the Dallas Museum of Art.
Fault Lines; Johnny
Guest Lectures and Programs
Program chair, technical sessions, Texas Association of Museum, 2008-2012. ArtCamp, (guest artist), Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Summer 2004, 2005. High School Return Program, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Spring 2004. Sketching in the Galleries, Dallas Museum of Art, Fall 2003.
Drawing from the Collection, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Summer 2003. Artist Led Gallery Tour, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Spring 2003.
Sketching in the Galleries, The Crow Collection of Asian Art, Spring & Summer 2002.
Scholarly Research Papers (post-graduate coursework, 2011-2014)
Aztlán: Lowrider Culture in America
Ethnogenesis and the Indians of the Plains
Like Alkali in the Soil: Suez and the Emerging Politics of Nationalism in Egypt Pistols and Ponies: Tracing the Path of the Vaquero De Fort Worth
Railroads and the Prelude to Texas Panhandle Transformation: 1875-1910 The Army and the Indian: 1866-1875
Publications
Robertson, Johnny. Review of “Trace-Christine Bisetto” at Mulcahy Modern, glasstire.com website. Posted September 2003. Robertson, Johnny. Review of “Terry Allen: Dugout” at Pillsbury Peters Fine Art, glasstire.com website. Posted May 21, 2002. Robertson, Johnny. Review of “Robert Caslin” at Four Walls, Artlies #33, Sept. 2001. Robertson, Johnny. Review of “Brian Fridge” at Four Walls, Artlies #30, Spring 2000.
Bibliography
Bratone, Jim. Review of “Sublime: The Landscape Re-envisioned” at Arlington Museum of Art, Artlies, Spring 2002, no. 33. Carter, Steve. Garden Variety: The Sculpture Garden at the Crow Collection of Asian Art Unveils a Cross Cultural Blend of
Old and New. Patron Magazine, Winter 2013.
Daniels, Mike. Review of “Los Angeles/The Social,” Dallas Morning News, The Guide section, August 11, 2000.
Dalton, Jeff. Review of “The Tao of Painting: Principles in Monochrome” at the MAC, Artlies, Winter 1999-2000, no. 25. Kuntner, Janet. “12 young artists win DMA grants,” The Dallas Morning News, May 26, 2001.
Lewis, Betsy. Art&Seek, KERA Q&A with Painter Johnny Robertson. July 9, 2009
Mitchell, Charles Dee. “Wall to Wall Party,” Dallas Morning News, Artsday June 28, 2004.
Mitchell, Charles Dee. “More Space Enriches Conduit Works,” Dallas Morning News, Artsday, May 29, 2002.
Mitchell, Charles Dee. “Monochromatic Paintings Draw Much Attention,” The Dallas Morning News, Entertainment section,
Feb. 5, 2000. (exhibition article)
Reese, Christina. “Break It Down,” Dallas Observer, Dec. 31, 1998. (article)