Those lamenting the disappearance of the Polaroid camera and relishing the banjo’s reappearance have something in common with Kiel Johnson: a love for the sounds and objects of a bygone era, and nostalgic affections for the handmade. Opening on June 3, 2011 at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke (VA), is One Thing Leads to Another, the artist’s first major museum retrospective exhibition featuring his handmade machinery and ink drawings, in addition to an on-site painting and exterior mural. Many of Johnson’s hand-crafted cassette tapes, SLR and Polaroid cameras, boom boxes, and musical instruments will be on view – all constructed from his signature cardboard medium – in addition to Publish or Perish, a sizable tribute to his family’s newspaper printing press, in “working” condition. The collection of gadgetry will remain on view through August 28, 2011.
Mark Moore Fine Art Blog 