527 Madison Avenue is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings by Heidi Johnson in the Lobby Gallery from January 9 – April 10, 2020. Located at 54th Street and Madison Avenue, there will be an opening reception on January 21 from 5–7 PM. The show is open to the public 9 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Friday. This will be the seventeenth exhibition in 527 Madison’s ongoing program showcasing noteworthy emerging and mid-career artists.
The exhibition features five of Johnson’s paintings, which give a glimpse into a constructed world where flora and fauna have overwhelmed their environment, seemingly oblivious to what might be considered chaos. An Abundance of birds, animals, insects, and plants appear to thrive and delight in the detritus of human existence.
Inspired and informed by the conceptual template of Dutch Still Life, where disparate species of flora and fauna meet on the same plane, time is compressed. Johnson’s paintings speak to our contemporary personal temporality, they exist in a culture of overrun by excess, and saturation. The work plays with the space between the unending highly constructed world of the internet and the very real and immediate space we dwell in. Although obviously farcical the paintings emit anxiety with excess that is very familiar.
Heidi was born in Providence, RI and attended Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She currently lives and works in the Mott Haven area of the Bronx.
527 Madison Avenue is a boutique commercial office building located at the corner of 54th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City. Completed in 1986, it was designed by celebrated architectural firm Fox and Fowle. The property has recently completed lobby and elevator upgrades and is owned by an affiliate of Mitsui Fudosan America, the US subsidiary of Japan's largest real estate company, Mitsui Fudosan Co., LTD.