Edge Of The Road: Daniel Blagg and Jill Johnson | An Exhibition Of The Spirit Of The American West

Edge of the Road | Daniel Blagg and Jill Johnson

An Exhibition of the Spirit of the American West

November 3, 2022 – January 7, 2023

Opening Reception Thursday, November 3

 5:30-7:30pm

“Daniel Blagg and Jill Johnson share a unique eye for capturing the beautiful mystery that is the Texas Landscape. Representations of seemingly abandoned buildings and weather faded road signs call to the idiom of the American Dream asking us to consider where that dream has led us. Painting allows Blagg the opportunity to make fluid and spontaneous decisions while photography allows Johnson to accurately capture reality.”

-Margery Gossett, Gallery Owner, Artspace111

Artspace111 presents Edge of the Road  by painter Daniel Blagg and photographer Jill Johnson.  These two Fort Worth artists have each documented their individual journey by keeping eyes on the trademarks of commerce and struggle. The spirit of the American west that lingers off the roads and byways and crisscrosses the landscape is evident in the stark, reminiscent compositions they explore. Johnson’s trusty Hasselblad camera and Blagg’s paintbrushes are the tools of that exploration. Ages of consumer lure and signs of a bygone humanity are at play throughout the exhibition. Daniel Blagg and Jill Johnson’s ability to create a surreal world of symbols from seemingly dystopian landmarks often found along Texas Highways, remind viewers of a not-so-distant past, and an ever-uncertain impending future. Johnson’s photographs give a false sense of permanence while Blagg’s paintings question the realities of commercialism. On the edge of the road, the iconic detritus that beckons, has often outlived its purpose and reminds us of where we have been and gives a glimpse as to where we might be heading.

About Daniel Blagg

A well-known figure of the contemporary Fort Worth art scene, Daniel Blagg has worked in the DFW area for over four decades. Blagg creates compositions that are both large-scale and intimate, familiar, and unfamiliar, through his realistic style and chosen subject matter. Inspired by the surroundings of his studio warehouse on the outskirts of Fort Worth, his paintings of deteriorating road signs, empty streets, and vacant buildings examine urban decay and the byproducts of American capitalism. Blagg is interested in portraying what society discards; what once was useful is now abandoned and left to rot with no thought of recycling or re-use. According to Blagg, this wastefulness is particularly evident in American culture, where advertising is driven by the constant and even desperate desire to make a profit, without regard for the ramifications of this model of economic enterprise.

About Jill Johnson

Celebrated for her sense of fun, her discriminating eye for detail and her insight into vanishing small-town Texas, Jill Johnson honors her childhood memories with these images through a Hasselblad lens. For more than a decade, she was an award-winning photographer for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Currently a Fort Worth-based freelance photographer, Jill specializes in capturing details of landscapes, portraiture, travel, and animals. Born in Lubbock and raised in Houston, Johnson spent summers working on the family farms in Bushland and Muleshoe before attending the University of Texas in Austin where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with an emphasis in photojournalism. Johnson states, “My passion for photography stemmed from the landscapes of my childhood. I spent summers driving a tractor, tending cattle, harvesting wheat and moving irrigation pipe. I can’t remember the moment when I knew taking pictures would be my life’s passion. I was on the farm and my heart has always been there.”