Johann Feught Headbones Commentary

The Drawers - Johann Feught Commentary written by Julie Oakes

exhibitions in the drawers in the gallery commentaries artists catalogs contact

Beauty & Obsession

There is enclosure, an architectural reference that suggests a grander site than our frontier-land contemporary metropolis. There is romance and longing harkening back to a time and place where buildings served the dual purpose of shelter and edification. The portals depicted in Johan Feught's work have stately proportions, classical references that translate into other disciplines. Act One, Act Two, Act Three and Act Four suggest theatrical scenarios. A stage is implied as the foot of the portico drops outside of the area that would be the proscenium and crosses into the implied space of the viewer like a cultivated invitation to join the beautiful realm of saturated color. The work is abstract but suggestive. The suggestion is clarified in the title and yet the symbolism is universal and really needs no explanation for the aura has been created. In Neptune's View, the atmosphere is marine, in Lover's View, it is a combination of petals and thorns, time-worn metaphors of love that are renewed by Feught's psychedelic palette.

The pieces are impeccably built, and in the crafting of space bear witness to all that makes Johann Feught's work a sophisticated experience. The construction is faultless. There is not a crack in the fabrication, all is perfect, and hence the reception of the sensual is gracious. There is dignity - in the presentation of elements, in the soaring arches and columns that awaken memories of other vaulted interiors; churches, Palladian villas, and old European mansions. The music played in these exquisite settings would have to be classical and the dress formal for the surroundings would lift the spirit and inspire ascension.

As the spires and spines of architectonic lines veer heaven-wards, the saturated colors in Johann Feught's work sing with a celestial harmony. These are lofty pieces that speak of great things within the humble confines of a piece of paper. Even the blacks are melodious, deep bassoon depths of black, lamp black, sooty deposits of burning fire, black as deep as a velvet night.

The European structures that comprise the subject are haunting and the over-all effect is beautiful with the poignancy of human emotional vulnerability adding to the wonder of existence.