Soft Spot

Nicole Johnson UG student exhibition

Reception: May 4, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
May 5 - May 8, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Adam D. Kamil Gallery, UC San Diego

My work focuses on the practice and display of care for the subject. Often in powerless positions, my subjects are vulnerable to the gaze of the viewer. The concept of vulnerability is something I want to convey in my works. I aim to encourage the viewer to examine their attitude toward the powerless subject. I want to explore the concept of trust and how it is given or received, and when. I feel entrusted by my depicted subject to display their vulnerability delicately. The viewer is entrusted with the image of the exposed subject. Using elements like the dark and light contrast of charcoal I aim to provoke an audience to experience emotion or even discomfort, prompting them to form a relationship with the subject.

I’m also interested in the implications of representing personal archival photos in my current drawings and how a difference in scale, medium, and intent can transform the atmosphere of an image. I intend to transform a photograph so that the subject matter will evoke a different feeling as a drawing. I’m interested in changing the scale of a particular subject to understand the effect that its size has on the viewer’s perception of power.