Keith Johnston lives and paints in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Johnston's approach to abstract expression is mediated by a comparatively spare sensibility of color and economy of composition.
His tonal arrangements of light and dark space embrace but never fully yield to hints of indistinct form. Though often suggesting a kind of calligraphic gesture that commands attention, the arrangements confer simultaneously the possibility for Zen-like meditative calm.
Johnston conceives his work on wood panel in encaustic, which is often scraped and reapplied until finally graphite is added in the resolution of the ultimate composition. He works without labored premeditation or preliminary sketches, and his masterful sense of spontaneity coincides with a confident simplicity reflecting his allegiance to a reductive vision that attaches significance to each color, line, shape or form.The productive void created by the absence of extraneous colors, lines and details is key to Johnston's vision.