Winston Wächter Fine Art is pleased to present, silence is golden, an exhibition of new work by Washington-based artist Barry Johnson.
In an era where information moves at lightning speed, our attention is relentlessly fractured, leaving us with no room to breathe, let alone process the weight of our own feelings. This frantic pace carves out a hollow chasm within us, an inability to ever truly feel whole.
To heal this, Johnson revisits the distant echoes of his Midwest upbringing. He recalls the infinite plains of gold that once wrapped around him, a sacred, grassy haven where one could get lost in thought and find kinship in the quiet presence of space. Since his youth, he has run through these fields with no destination or demand on his time, surrendered entirely to the rhythm of the wind.
Years later, that same solace remains. By placing figures within these grassy oases, Johnson reclaims the spaces that once nurtured us, offering a poignant reminder of the transformative power found in the simple act of sitting still. silence is golden is more than an exhibition; it is a plea for reflection.
Johnson asks that we choose the sanctity of the present moment over the performance of sharing it, prioritizing the soul over the lens. We often tell one another to "touch grass," but in this series of sweeping, large-scale works, Johnson invites the viewer to finally stop running and to pour back into themselves before the world takes what is left.
Barry Johnson has received awards including the Edwin T. Pratt Award, smART Ventures Award, and the GAP Award. He was also a finalist for the Betty Bowen Award, the Neddy and Conductive Garboil Grant. Johnson’s work has been shown and collected throughout the nation, and his work has recently been featured in Architectural Digest. He has also created multiple permanent artworks regionally, including an immersive mural for Facebook’s Bellevue Office, a bronze sculpture of advocate multi-dimensional artist Dr. James Washington, and a permanent fabrication for Midtown Square. Johnson has also held residencies at Amazon, Facebook, and the Seattle Hebrew Academy.
