Claudette Johnson

One of the most arresting figurative artists working in Britain today, Claudette Johnson (b. 1959, Manchester, UK) creates larger than life studies of black women that are both intimate and powerful.00Modern Art Oxford?s major show of her work, 'Claudette Johnson: I Came to Dance' (2019) is her first major institutional exhibition in almost three decades and included approximately 30 paintings and drawings in pastel, paint, ink and charcoal from the early 1980s to 2019. Throughout her career, Johnson has continued to redefine the space assigned to images of black women. Musing that "it is a very small twisted space that is offered", Johnson invites her sitters to "Take up space in a way that is reflective of who they are." The texts in this exhibition catalogue offer fresh insights into her practice and the dynamic impact of her event at the First National Black Arts Convention organised by the Blk Art Group in Wolverhampton, 1982. Exhibition: Modern Art Oxford, UK (01.06.-08.09.2019).