Introducing: Johnny Christmas

New to Rise Art this month is the work of photographer and printmaker, Johnny Christmas. Often embracing a bold colour palette and using materials in an experimental way, we're huge fans of his pieces. Here is a quick look at some of our favourites. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Painting with Light, Number 1 (2011)

This work is from a series entitled Painting with Light that Christmas created in 2011. The beautiful, painterly quality is achieved by capturing the movement of light from coloured torches on a very long exposure. By mounting the prints on to Diasec Christmas has ensured that none of the luminousity of the coloured light is lost. We love that these works manage to achieve a still glassiness while still capturing a rotation.

This Little Bird (2012)

Choosing to tackle a traditional subject matter in this piece, Christmas has gone about it in an unconventional way. The collage work appears to be created from fragments of other paintings, with images of clouds and fish being used to create the figure of the bird. By taking this unique approach, Christmas has brought an element of the surreal to a familiar subject matter. See the rest of the work from this series here.

Global Pharmacy (2010)

What is immediately recognisable as a map of the world, is on closer inspection a bold visual commentary on our dependance on and relationship with modern medicine. According to Christmas, the average British male who lives until the age of 77 will have consumed as many pills in the last 10 years of his life as he did in the proceeding 67. In this striking piece, the number of pills this 'average' male can expect to be prescribed are arranged meticulously to create a simplified world map. We can't help but be captivated by the thoughtfulness of this particular piece, displayed in such a playful manner.

For more information and to see the rest of Johnny Christmas' work, see his Rise Art Profile.