Derek Johnson

The subject of my work at this time is ‘mass // collision // rift // infinity’

I am an artist working in two, three dimensions, moving-image and writing. I will use any materials available – art materials, found objects, old science books, parts of old technology, surfaces, old paint from a neighbours shed,  lumps of concrete with a piece of rusted metal coming out of it, bones, chemicals, stickers, tar… anything. I draw, assemble, paint, stick, cut up, paint, weld, print, darkroom print, cast, film, layer – and build. Sounds chaotic and messy? – well, it is done with purpose and and I work to arrive at a cohesive set of answers. Beyond anything else, I believe that work happens by doing something – and direction and meaning emerge. Clarity comes from action.

Themes: 

My work is a collision and fusion of many many things that I see, feel, thing, hear, dream about and places I explore. I am producing work that is a fusion of themes into a series of pieces (answers)  – //  collision of particles as intergalactic planets of ice and carbon – the fall of empires – maps of thinking – ground code – vengeance – tranquility – sentinels  – flat space – locomotives – the space between dimensions – physicality – machine gods – brutalist forms – dreams – archeology – sacrifice – tectonic shift – the end and the beginning // 

Personal fascinations which have shaped me: 

Yugoslavian spomeniks, brutalist structures, walking under elevated railways, Soviet metro systems, running anywhere, Imperial Faberge Eggs, the Class 55 Deltic, ZX Spectrum games, film/TV/Music, stories, radars, pylons, stones, the story of  Clyde Tombaugh & New Horizons, shards of light, Asian backstreets, excellent trees… and many thousands more.

Education: 

BA (Hons) Graphic Design (Illustration) (First Class) / Leeds Metropolitan University

MA Education Leadership & Management (Distinction) / Middlesex University

Employment in Creative Education:

1994 – 2011: Lecturer / West Suffolk College

2011 – 2016: Group Head of School: Art & Design / Eastern Education Group

2015-2025: Lecturer: University of the Art London: managing and delivering the Art & Maths Programme (UAL London College of Fashion and UAL Central Saint Martins)

2022 – Visiting Lecturer: UAL PI Center, New York City, UAS

2022 – Visiting Lecturer: UAL HANA, Seoul, South Korea

Exhibitions and Awards:

• Print work in collection of University of Pennsylavinia and Kyoto
• Work exhibited in various national galleries
• Winner of 2017 Times Newspaper  – Best New Educational Initiative
• 2026 – Artwork for ‘Task Time’ (Read Graves Games)