Erick Johnson, Signal Drift, 2026
This group of new paintings and works on paper is an extension of recent work using architectural geometry— lines, planes and intervals within floating polygons to suggest solidity and control. This is undermined with soft transitions, chromatic drift and optical porosity. The result is a structured openness that reveals: movement without destination; circular rather than linear progression; “throughness” moving within a geometry that is never entirely settled.
The title, “Continuum” can be approached in several ways:
1. Fractal Scale Shifts as Visual Continuums
Fractals operate on the principle that micro-forms mirror macro-forms. This recursive structure creates continuity across scale. In this sense, the polygons become units of continuity and carriers of spatial logic that repeat, mutate and extend. Linked to this is the idea of modularity: a visual syntax that keeps unfolding.
2. Movement Through Color and Interference
The color in my work, layering, shifting, vibrating— also implies continuity. Hue transitions create perceptual gradients. Edges function as soft joints rather than hard stops. Color events in one area affect the entire structure creating a chromatic continuum where nothing is isolated and everything participates in the overall field.
3. Psychological or Perceptual Continuum
My shapes often straddle the line between object and opening, construction and evolution. This tension creates a mental continuum where perception oscillates between Inside/outside, Flat/depth, Stability/instability, Figure/field. The new fractal scaling intensifies this oscillation, making the perceptual experience more fluid and continuous.
