Artist who uses JUTE

Tendai Johnson

From the Artist's Statement:

 “Of equal importance is the conceptual and expressive potential of material that I use to make this visible in my creative investigation.  I have been incorporating jute (burlap) for this very reason.  It is a material that is widely used for utilitarian purposes in Zimbabwe, as well as in many non-western nations.  In my work, jute is metaphorically used to situate the cultural meaning of place juxtaposed with humanity’s changing conditions.  I express this metaphor through the following process: an initial under-painting in acrylic, followed by an obsessive application of various sizes and shapes of jute, using its interweaving nature as a “cross-hatch” in response to planar analysis; and a final layer of oil paint on the surface of the jute.  Additionally, jute is adhered to the canvas by a polymer binder, which is an invisible plastic element that was developed in the west. In this process, I attempt to express a new hybridity that reflects the increasingly globalized society of today, whereby individuals live on the borders of cultures and between cultures, identities and positionalities.  Thereby, I attempt to integrate image, material and color as inseparable and expressive elements of the human condition.”

http://tendaijohnson.com