• Artists
  • Services
  • Story
  • Links
  • Current
  • Upcoming
  • Past
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
  • PRESS
Menu

Linda Matney Gallery

5435 Richmond Rd
Williamsburg VA
(757) 675 6627
Contemporary Art Collections/John Lee Matney Curator

Linda Matney Gallery

  • Artists
    • Steve Prince
    • Jill Carnes
    • Lee Matney
    • Eliot Dudik, Works on Paper and Habitation
    • Elizabeth Mead
    • Rebecca Shkeyrov
    • Jeffrey Whittle
    • Benjamin Rouse
    • Brittainy Lauback
    • Laura Frazure, Bodily Rhetoric
    • Nicole Santiago, The Portrait, Myths, Histories and Allegories
    • Jo Volley, New Works for the New World
    • Iris Wu 吴靖昕, Echo Fragments
    • Michael Oliveri in Temporal Distortions
    • Art Rosenbaum
    • Margo Newmark Rosenbaum
    • Ivan Plusch
    • Hye Yeon Nam, Temporal Distortions
    • Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Sandra Lee Phipps in Works on Paper and NUDES
    • Christi Harris, Lachrymose Installation
    • Grayson Chandler, Planting Traces
    • Olga Tobreluts
    • Brian Kreydatus
    • Teddy Johnson
    • Mary Zeran
    • Judith McWillie
    • John R.G. Roth, Modeled Experience
    • Scott Belville
    • Edwin and Emily Pease
    • Kent Knowles
    • Kathryn Refi, Temporal Distortions
    • Charlotte Lee
    • Vesna Pavlović, Vesna Pavlović, Hidden Narratives 2011
    • Nick Veasey
    • Bill Georgia
    • XIANFENG ZHAO
    • Kristin Skees
    • Michael K. Paxton
    • Diane Covert
    • Glenn H. Shepard Jr.
    • Paul Light Jr.
    • Barclay Sheaks
    • c marquez
    • Christopher B. Wagner
    • Kristen Peyton , The Function of Light, 2018
    • Rebecca Brantley
    • George Papadakis
    • Jayson Lowery
    • Leigh Anne Chambers, So this is your fairytale, 2019
    • Brian Freer, Natural Causes
    • Alison Stinely, Gilded Splinters, 2018
    • Matthew P. Shelton, Keepsake
    • Ryan Lytle, Current Art Fair 2019
    • John Lee
    • Luther Gerlach
    • Maria Finn, Hidden Narratives
    • Shkeyrov Prices
    • Papadakis
    • Prints and Small Works
    • Lee Matney Photographs
    • Lee Matney Photographs
    • Teddy Johnson's Works
  • About
    • Services
    • Story
    • Links
  • Exhibitions
    • Current
    • Upcoming
    • Past
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
  • PRESS

Teddy Johnson discusses his painting "Sleep Walker" with Ryan Lytle

February 22, 2016 John Matney

Teddy Johnson’s “Sleep Walker” is about the daily ritual that most everybody goes through in preparing for the day. It is the often humorous struggle of the automatic morning procedure. It reminds one of crawling out of bed half-awake reaching for the first cup of coffee or arriving at your destination only to realize you are wearing two different shoes (or often in my case two different colored socks).

 

RL- Can you share some of your thoughts on “Sleep Walker”

TJ- The painting "Sleep Walker" was an exploration of the gray area between sleeping and waking up. It's an ongoing struggle and sometimes comedy that can ensue as we drag ourselves from sleep to work. The mind is trying to finish processing dreams, trying to anticipate the day, remember where it is at, and differentiate this day from the last. This painting was a culmination for me of the work I did over a period of study when I was trying to capture images from my mind's eye, and to describe experience that cannot be seen. The exciting thing about this piece for me was how close it captured a particular experience during a particular time of my life.

RL- What is the “particular experience” you mentioned?

The “particular experience” that is referenced relates to time studying in graduate school. I was thinking about the new work I was doing and the challenges that come with the rigorous but rewarding experience. In addition, I was transitioning with educational experience and the development of stages in ability and career.

RL- Can you tell me a little bit about the technique you used to create the texture seen throughout the painting?

TJ- I created a full size drawing before starting and then transferred the composition gesturaly onto the canvas before gradually building the color. Paint quality is always of concern to me in my works whether working clean and thin, or "torturing" the surface. In this one I was using a homemade Damar/Beeswax medium to build up the surface while keeping the paint creamy. In other paintings during this time I used the beeswax medium combined with stand oil, linseed oil, or quick drying medium to create similar effects.

RL- Is the subject meant to be read as separate figures or is it more of a simultaneous narrative?

TJ- The painting is a simultaneous narrative, meaning that it is the same character going through separate events at the same time. Time becomes ambiguous making it difficult to determine whether it is moving forward or backwards. The state of consciousness is treated in a similar manner blurring the line between whether the main figure is asleep or awake.

← Interview with Megan Marlatt by Ryan LytleInterview with Michael "Catfish Man" Suter by Ryan Lytle →
 

Archive

  • May 2025 (4)
  • April 2025 (8)
  • March 2025 (1)
  • February 2025 (1)
  • January 2025 (2)
  • July 2024 (1)
  • June 2024 (2)
  • May 2024 (1)
  • March 2024 (1)
  • January 2024 (2)
  • December 2023 (3)
  • November 2023 (1)
  • October 2023 (1)
  • September 2023 (2)
  • July 2023 (2)
  • June 2023 (2)
  • May 2023 (5)
  • April 2023 (2)
  • February 2023 (1)
  • January 2023 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (1)
  • June 2022 (1)
  • April 2022 (1)
  • March 2022 (5)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (4)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • October 2021 (4)
  • September 2021 (1)
  • August 2021 (1)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • May 2021 (3)
  • April 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • February 2021 (2)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (3)
  • May 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (3)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (3)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • October 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • November 2016 (3)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • June 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (1)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • November 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • July 2014 (3)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (2)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • June 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (2)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (1)
  • November 2012 (1)
  • October 2012 (4)
  • September 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (1)
  • May 2012 (1)
  • February 2012 (1)
  • January 2012 (2)
  • December 2011 (1)
  • October 2011 (3)
  • September 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (1)
  • March 2011 (2)
  • February 2011 (1)

5435 Richmond Road, Suite A Williamsburg, Virginia 23188