Tessa Johnson
Los Angeles based artist, Tessa Johnson, has been creating portrait based oil paintings and botanical pastel drawings for the past 8 years. Much of her early practice was focused solely on painting but Tessa started blending her love for drawing and botany into her practice.
Tessa’s evolution through painting and drawing has allowed her to realize the parallel concepts she thinks about when creating work. In Tessa’s surrealist portraits she examines the complexities and often masked layers of a person that are frequently overshadowed by how a person might be viewed on the surface in terms of beauty and how one represents themselves. Her works on paper scrutinize over the idea of what is seen as simply beautiful and easy to digest, no added layers or hidden intricacies, just something beauitful. Through her work, Tessa investigates the notions of what it means to understand something or someone at a deeper, more intimate level or in contrast wanting to absorb something strictly for its beauty.