Laura Adel Johnson is a Perth-based artist who draws faces, not with a pen, but with the raggedy glow of fairy lights. What led to the style of light-drawings Johnson creates? “As a multimedia artist, I am interested in incorporating everyday, common-place objects into my art works. I like to use unconventional materials to make drawings that describe or comment on the current social/political environment.”
How difficult is it to pull off this work? “The most difficult element of making these drawings is choosing what imagery to illustrate. Through experimentation, I discovered that focusing on portraits and images of people created the most dramatic and engaging works. For the work, Please, Thank You and Have a Nice Day, I found images of models from catalogues and magazines. I liked how the artificial nature of the lights reflected the artificiality of the models and the facades they create to sell products.”
