Johanna Bolton
Contact: johanna [at] johannabolton.com
Instagram: @johanna.bolton
Biography
Johanna Bolton is a visual artist working across sculpture, installation, photography and performance. Since graduating from Chelsea College in 2014, she has had a number of residencies and exhibitions in the UK and internationally. Her first solo show was in 2018 at Borough Road Gallery, London South Bank University.
Johanna received the 2021 Gilbert Bayes Award for emerging artists from the Royal Society of Sculptors, and became the recipient of the 2022 residency at metal fabricator Benson Sedgwick. She was a finalist for the 2022 Ingram Prize.
Previous projects include a residency at Kew Gardens Herbarium, a commission for the Bomberg Archive at London South Bank University and exhibitions at Gerlesborgs Konsthall in Sweden and Edicola Spoleto / MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Italy.
Artist Statement
I have made studies of the kinks and knots in elastic bands, patterns deformed by scrunching up paper and, most recently, the fabric folds at the back of knees. It is a ritual gathering of knowledge, finding coexistence of the ridiculous and sublime through an honest awe at the complexity of even the most banal matters. They are also archives of human presence and the movement left behind in material form.
My work combines 3D materials, photography and performance. I tend to work in series, with objects going through change. It follows a system, sometimes rational and sometimes intuitive. I am interested in the awkwardness of systematic investigations where the end point remains elusive.
Whilst my practice is conceptual, it is important for me to work with materials; the resistance I meet there gives the work agency. Performers are invited to interact with the objects or installations. This is sometimes part of the narrative, or a way to investigate the shape relationship between sculptural and human forms.
Education
2011-2014 BA Fine Arts, Chelsea College of Art
2019-2021 Conditions Studio Programme
ongoing Member of Alt-MFA
Selected Exhibitions, Residencies, Performances and Events
2022
‘Ingram Prize 2022 Exhibition’, Unit 1 Gallery, London
‘BLUSH’, ASC Gallery, London
‘Gilbert Bayes 2021 Award Exhibition’, Cromwell Place, London
‘Gilbert Bayes 2021 Award Exhibition’ CASC Gallery, University of Chester
‘Meet me Halfway — On the Line’, Residency and Exhibition at Eastcheap Project Space, Letchworth Garden City
2021
‘The Feuilleton: I Will Bear Witness’, Edicola Spoleto / MACRO in Rome, Italy. Curated by Dr Jo Melvin
‘Conditions Exhibition’, Whitgift Centre, Croydon, London (Reviewed: Art Monthly no 450, October 2021, “Conditions”, by Jamila Prowse, p.32)
‘This is not a Shop’, Non Place Collective, Bath Fringe Arts Festival
‘Make Something That Makes You Feel Good’, Virtual Reality Private View, LUVA Gallery
Body Building, Small House Gallery, London
2020
Received the 2021Gilbert Bayes Award from Royal Society of Sculptors
Non Place Collective exhibition, Bath Fringe Arts Festival
2019
‘Att komma hem’, Gerlesborgs Konsthall, Sweden (Reviewed: Bohusläningen, 20/6/2019 “Den kreativa bygden i centrum för Sommar-Gerlesborg”; Bohusläningen, 25/6/2019, “Konst utan slut för den som besöker Gerlesborg”)
‘RE:FORM” event for Art Licks, EG-1 Project Space, London
‘Shutters!’, Arebyte Victoria, London
Kelder Gallery Residency (AltMFA), London
2018
Solo Exhibition: ‘ARCHIVE: Reimagining the Borough Road Collection’, Borough Road Gallery, London
David Bomberg Collection, Commission and Residency, London South Bank University (April- October 2018)
Koppel Project Gallery Summer Residency, London
‘This Ephemeral Matter’, Bath Fringe Arts Festival, Bath
‘This Might Be The Future’ (AltMFA), Guest Projects, London
2017
Kew Herbarium Residency (November 2017- February 2018)
‘Unknown Futures’ (AltMFA), Guest Projects, London
‘Emergency 2017’, Word of Warning, Manchester
‘Pre-sliced Orange Segments’, Light Eye Mind Gallery, London
‘Word Play’, Forest Gate Arts, London
eYEbAll presents ‘Position 2’, Project Space Wapping, London
2016
‘The Observer Effect’, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art
‘The Other’ (RCA Feminist Society), Darwin Galleries, Royal College of Art
‘PREFAB-Lab’, Bath Fringe Arts Festival, Bath
eYEbAll presents ‘Position 1′, Project Space Wapping, London
‘I TWANG’ performance at the Royal Academy, Burlington Gardens Festival
‘Elastic.’ Performative Art Research at the Nunnery Gallery, London
‘Drawing Utopias,’ IKLECTIK Art Lab, London
2015
‘Off the shelf’, IKLECTIK Art Lab, London
‘The Motion of Matter’, The Rum Factory Project Space, London
2014
Chelsea College Degree Show
ING Discerning Eye
Press and Publications
‘What I talk about when I talk about my thoughts’, Group Publication and Event at TATE Britain 2012
‘The Study of Elastic Bands in R3 Euclidean Space’, Artist’s book (edition of 50), 2014
‘Circle or Oval?: Concepts, Non-identity and the Lifeworld’, Symposium: Material Others and Other Materialities, Informed Matters, IKLECTIK Labs 2016
Bohusläningen, 20/6/2019 “Den kreativa bygden i centrum för Sommar-Gerlesborg”,
Bohusläningen, 25/6/2019, “Konst utan slut för den som besöker Gerlesborg”
Art Monthly no 450, October 2021, “Conditions”, by Jamila Prowse, p.32
Soanyway Magazine Vol.2 Issue 13, September 2022, “A material record of walking”
Axess Magazine, no 7, October 2022 “Granens estetik och den svenska folksjälen”, by Cecilia Nikpay, p.24
Awards & Scholarships
2021 Gilbert Bayes Award from the Royal Society of Sculptors
Shortlisted for the ACME studio award 2014
Shortlisted for the Mead Scholarship 2013
Art works held in UAL Collection, and private collections