Diary Entry #66 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Receives Statewide Recognition / March 20, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

I am thrilled to share the news that the Burchfield Penney Art Center will be recognized at the Museum Association of New York (MANY) 2023 annual conference with an Award of Distinction for “Engaging Communities.”

According to MANY, the award is being given for Burchfield’s work surrounding my LEROI: Living in Color exhibition and “… supporting programming addressing important conversations around themes like identity, social justice, and community.”

The outstanding news about this award is that the student artists, from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT), Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center who collaborated with me in the exhibition will also be award recipients.

This is one of 14 awards being given by MANY this year in celebration of unique leadership, dedicated community service, transformational visitor experiences, community engagement and innovative programs that use collections to tell stories of New Yorkers.

I cannot imagine a greater thrill than to have this exhibition honored for the collaborative efforts of Burchfield Curator, Tiffany Gaines, the student artists and their lead instructors, Jay Hawkins Sr.(BPS,) Robin Jordan (JBLC,) Kelvin Chazles Klein (BCAT,) and Martina LaVallo (Squeaky Wheel) and myself, which elevated the experience for all who worked on it, and the many who have viewed it.

Thank you Museum Association of New York.

For those interested, the exhibition continues at the Burchfield Penney through March 26. Full details at https://burchfieldpenney.org/.../exhibition:leroi-living.../

Diary Entry #65 Manhattan Bound / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Just one month after the opening of LEROI: Living in Color, I will be heading to New York City as an invited artist in the NO BOUNDARIES International Artists’ Artworks New York City Exhibition. It is sponsored by the International Professional Art Association (IPAA) through the support of Vision Art Media (VAM.)

The exhibit will run December 20,2022 through January 10, 2023, under the direction of VAM Founder and IPAA Chairman, Michael Lam. It will be held at the association’s Education and Art Forum 36W 44th St. Unit 707.

I am honored to be invited to this exhibition and look forward to reconnecting with my fellow artists from their international locales of the Philippines, Russia, Korea, Sweden, and more.

I am only taking one painting to this exhibit. I want to keep things simple in balancing my Burchfield Penney Art Center Retrospective with the No Boundaries Show. It is a piece I finished recently, so it has not yet been on public display. I’m posting the almost completed painting here as a bit of a sneak preview.

It’s a 20 x 20 oil and acrylic on canvas---part of my Colored People Series. I cleverly titled it “Colored People 2022!”

If you familiar with my work, you may notice that this painting is bit different stylistically from my earlier paintings in the series. For example, I’ve integrated geometrics onto the canvas, and there is sketching---almost like graffiti--- that I don’t usually do. And all was created from my imagination.

This is the fourth in the Colored People 2022 Series The finished canvas will be “20” x “20.” To ensure its safe arrival in NYC, I will frame and wrap it and carry it with me on the plane and every step of the way to the exhibition locale.

If you are in New York City between December 20th and January 10th, I heartily recommend that you see this exhibition.

LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition includes the work of students from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. The exhibition will be on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through March 26, 2023, presented by M&T Bank, with additional support from organizations and individuals throughout the Western New York community.

Diary Entry #64 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibit FAQs and Answers / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Since the November 11th opening of LEROI: Living in Color, many of you have asked about the exhibition.

Below are answers to some of your most asked questions, along with a video created by Marc Odien of WNYmedia Network that gives a terrific overview of opening night!

Please view and share this video and encourage people every where to experience Living in Color!

How long does the exhibition run?

Until March 26, 2023

What are the exhibition hours?

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm

Thursday 10am-8pm

Sunday 1-5pm

Monday, Tuesday CLOSED

Where can you buy a tee shirt or a catalogue?

In the Burchfield Penney Art Center Gift Shop.

With sincere thanks to everyone who continues to support this exhibition of my art, and the art of the students whose work is featured.

Diary Entry #63 Buffalo Magazine LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Highlights / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

A terrific photographic overview of LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening by Buffalo Magazine.
Link to view

Diary Entry #62 LEROI: Living in Color Hits the Airwaves / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Thanks to WGRZ - Channel 2, Buffalo for coming to the LEROI: Living in Color Opening to interview me about the exhibition.

One note: the exhibition contains 70 pieces of my art and 20 interpretations of my work by the student artists who participated.

Link to story

Diary Entry #61 LEROI: Living in "Lights Up" Color / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

The last two nights of LEROI: Living in Color Preview and Opening have been beyond exhilerating, incredibly validating and filled with experiences beyond anything I could have imagined.

Thank you to the Burchfield Penney Art Center, curator, Tiffany Gaines, the exhibition main sponsor, M&T Bank, the student artists and coordinators from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology, Buffalo Public Schools, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center, for your part in making this happen. And thank you to my family, friends, and the people of Buffalo and beyond who turned out in support my work and this exhibition.

At the end of the last two nights, I took the time to drive around WNY and experience the colors of my art that have extended beyond the gallery to 26 buildings across the Buffalo Niagara Region.

It was an architectural artistic feat accomplished by the Landmark Illumination Team, Buffalo Lit--- a voluntary illumination initiative between the buildings and structures that comprise Buffalo’s downtown skyline.

They chose to highlight the opening of LEROI: Living in Color in recognition of the social justice element of the exhibition.

While I was not able to see every site, I put together this "Living Color" illimination of Buffalo's iconic Electric Tower as an example of their tribute. I am honored and, once again, thank everyone for their support of my art.

Diary Entry #60 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibit Opening Finale Interview Burchfield Penney Nov 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Welcome to the LeRoi C. Johnson/Burchfield Penney Art Center, LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening Interview #2 with a Buffalo Public School Student Artist, filmed on Friday, November 11, 2022.

This is the fifth in a series of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view all five together in their entirety on Diary Entry #55.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person.

Diary Entry #59 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibit Opening JBLC/Robin Jordan Interview Burchfield Penney Nov 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Welcome to the LeRoi C. Johnson/Burchfield Penney Art Center, LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening JBLC/Robin Jordan Interview, filmed on Friday, November 11, 2022.

This is the fourth in a series of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view all five together in their entirety on Diary Entry #55.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person.

Diary Entry #58 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibit Opening BPS Student/Artist#2 Interview Burchfield Penney Nov 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

This is the third in a series of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view all five together in their entirety on Diary Entry #55.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person.

Diary Entry #57 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibit Opening BPS Student/Artist#1 Interview Burchfield Penney Nov 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Welcome to the LeRoi C. Johnson/Burchfield Penney Art Center, LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening Interview #1 with a Buffalo Public School Student Artist, filmed on Friday, November 11, 2022.

This is the second in a series of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view all five together in their entirety on Diary Entry #55.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person.

Diary Entry #56 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening Blessing /Procession Burchfield Penney Nov. 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Welcome to the LeRoi C. Johnson/Burchfield Penney Art Center, LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening Blessing and Procession, filmed on Friday, November 11, 2022.

This is the first in a series of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view all five together in their entirety on Diary Entry #55.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person

Diary Entry #55 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening/Interviews Burchfield Penney Friday November 11, 2022 / January 2, 2023 by LeRoi Johnson

Welcome to the LeRoi C. Johnson/Burchfield Penney Art Center, LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Opening and Interviews, filmed on Friday, November 11, 2022.

This is a compilation of five videos covering the exhibition opening through interviews, and on to the grand finale! If you prefer, you can view the videos individually in subsequent posts 56-60.

Enjoy! And when you’re done, be sure to head over to the Burchfield Penney Art Center to see LEROI: Living in Color in person

Diary Entry #54 Video Friday From Inside the Exhibition / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

It's Video Friday...and today is finally THE DAY!

After months of planning, coordinating, imaginging, creating, and achieving, LEROI: Living in Color is finally ready for the people of WNY and beyond to experience and enjoy.

In today's video, Burchfield Penney Curator, Tiffany Gaines and I talk about the exhibit from the all-important perspective of the student artists---their 20 pieces of work that so perfectly integrate into this exhibition of my 75 paintings I've created over the last 50 years.

Please take a minute to watch and hear about this unique art collaboration....and as bonus---get a great sneak peek of one of the student artist's incredible creations. Then join us tonight at the Burchfield Penney 5:30-8pm for the FREE opening. I look forward to sharing LEROI: Living in Color with you this evening.

Thank you to the Burchfield Penney, the student artist organizations and all who have given of their time and talents to help this ideal come to life.

Diary Entry #53 Video Wednesday Sneak Peek / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

It's Video Wednesday!

Wait....what?

Yep. This week, to celebrate, the two-day countdown to the offficial opening of LEROI: Living in Color, I am adding a Video Wednesday to my usual Video Friday post.

In today’s video, I switch hats from artist to interviewer as I sit down in the middle of the gallery with LEROI: Living in Color Curator, Tiffany Gaines, and we chat about her part in the exhibition.

As a side note, we filmed this interview on a day I stopped by the Burchfield Penney to see their progress on the hanging of the exhibition. From the moment I walked in the door, I was thrilled, delighted, and, quite honestly, overwhelmed.

Tiffany has done an outstanding job in laying out the exhibit’s 95-pieces of art in ways that perfectly combine my 70-plus paintings with the interpretive works created by the student artists. I can’t wait for you all to see it.

In the meantime, enjoy this video and the sneak peek of the exhibition that it offers.

Diary Entry #52 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Period 5: Flowers and Abstractions / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Today I’m writing about the last of the periods of my artwork to be featured in the LEROI” Living in Color Exhibition at The Burchfield Penney Art Center, opening this Friday.

Interestingly, the genesis of Flowers and Abstractions is based on advice given to me in the early 1990’s by my friend and internationally renowned artist, Abdias do Nascimento. Quite simply, he told me, “Don’t waste paint.”

Respecting his words of wisdom, whenever I finished painting, I began cleaning my brushes by scraping them onto a blank canvas.

I did it without intention or emphasis on any kind of structure. I would just scrape brushes of all different paint colors until the I felt the canvas was saturated with creativity.

If there was still paint on a brush at that point, I would move to another blank canvas and continue scraping until the brush was paint free.

Over time, this paint scraping technique morphed into my understanding of an artistic process---one of spontaneous creativity where I would go back and choose a canvas and use it as the foundation for a new painting.

In the beginning, I used the scraped paint to create my “Flowers” works of art. Later I was inspired to use them to create abstractions as well.

Eventually, I differentiated between the two forms by scaping paint onto long narrow canvases for the flower paintings and onto smaller, square canvases for the abstractions, as shown in these images.

Diary Entry #51 LEROI: Artvoice Recognition / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Thanks to Jamie Moses and Artvoice for this great article about LEROI: Living in Color, opening Friday 5:30-8pm at Burchfield Penney Art Center.

Admission is free. All are welcome.

Link to Artvoice article

Diary Entry #50 Video Friday: Living the Dream / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

It's Video Friday!

One week from today, Nov. 11th at 5:30pm, people from WNY and across the United States will join with me at the Burchfield Penney Art Center for the opening of LEROI: Living in Color. To say I look forward to welcoming everyone to this exhibition is a major understatement.

Yesterday, I met with Burchfield Curator Tiffany Gaines onsite, to walk through the exhibit in its final stages. The experience was thrilling and humbling and I am most grateful to Tiffany, Burchfield Acting Director, Scott Propeack,and his entire staff for creating this magnificent restrospective of my work, and the art of the students who have collaborated with me.

After reviewing the exhibition, I sat down in front of one of my favorite paintings, "Butt Naked on Sunset" to share my thoughts about this experience. What you will witness in watching this video is a person in the midst of realizing the dream of a lifetime---a dream I hope you will share with me at the opening, or anytime during the exhibition run through March 2023.

Diary Entry #49 Front Page Challenger News Recognition / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Another day.

Another outstanding front page story about LEROI: Living in Color!

Thank you to The Challenger News for honoring my work, the artwork of the 80 student artists collaborating with me on this exhibit, and the expertise of Scott Propeack, Tiffany Gaines and the staff of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in putting together this unique retrospective of 90 pieces of art. Your support is essential in helping share the story of this exhibition across the Buffalo Community and beyond.

Diary Entry #48 LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition Period 5: Colored People 2000-Present / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Today’s painting from this period is titled, “Colored People.” It’s a 52” x 38” acrylic and oil on canvas that I created in 2016, and which will be on exhibit in LEROI: Living in Color opening Nov. 11th at Burchfield Penney Art Center.

As I noted in my previous Colored People post, the focus of this series is the universality among us. No matter our skin tone, we are all people of color. In this particular painting I also wanted to convey the regality of people, in the way we can dress and present ourselves to the world.

Colored People is my favorite of all six art periods in the LEROI: Living in Color Collection. There are many reasons why. One of the most significant is that during this series I evolved my signature to the one I use today.

An artist’s signature is obviously very personal. When I first began painting, I signed my Initials---LCJ. At the time I was trying to stay out of the way of my artwork, since the scale of my paintings left little room for anything more. Then I started signing my name in script, again on a small scale.

The leap to the current block version of my artist’s signature was a bit of a struggle. I first printed it as I write it, with a capital “L” and a capital “R” (LeRoi,) but the presentation looked awkward---hard to read.

After a few paintings, I decided to line up the five letters in a block formation of all capitals. Since then, I have “signed” LEROI in a variety of places on my paintings, deciding to incorporate it into the artwork rather than treat it as an intrusion.

And while I know some assess it as oversized, it has become celebrated in the artworld as a unique trademark of my artist’s personality.

Diary Entry #47 Voice of the Black People Recognition / December 30, 2022 by LeRoi Johnson

Thank you Buffalo Criterion Newspaper for this tremendous front page article about LEROI: Living in Color, opening Nov. 11th at the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

It is a meaningful honor when, "The Powerful Voice of the Black People," accords my work this kind of notice. It is doubly significant when the four organizations and 80 student artists included in this exhibition are highlighted, allowing the community to learn about them, and their talents.