One of Duncan Johnson’s favourite places is the local dump. It’s there that the Vermont artist finds the raw material for his work – discarded lumber. “I find amazing color there,” he explains. Back in his studio he removes nails and unwanted material from the salvaged lumber and then re-mills it into smaller, workable pieces. All of the colour that appears in his assemblages is part of the wood that he is reclaiming. To create the overall look that he is after he will often sand pieces to either clean them or alter their existing finish. Johnson painstakingly assembles a variety of shapes into geometric patterns based on a precise, underlying grid. As he likes to say, “I am painting with an unconventional material.” And when it comes time to add to his colour palette, he schedules a trip to the dump.
