Devin B. Johnson: Ritual of Welcome
What does legacy mean to you?
I think about grabbing nuggets from the past. Legacy is about building upon the past, learning from it, and using those symbols to create a better future. It's about taking the nuggets of wisdom, experiences, and knowledge from previous generations or moments in time and using them to drive innovation, progress, and growth. The use of cars and old model cars in my work gives shape to a driving forward.
– Devin B. Johnson
Ritual of Welcome is Johnson’s fifth solo exhibition with Nicodim and his third in the Los Angeles gallery, and represents a focused thrust forward in his nascent, yet noteworthy career. This body of work is comprised of eight figurative paintings, five abstract, and four works on paper, each of which pieces together the nuggets of wisdom, experiences, and knowledge gleaned throughout his journey. Each piece is an incantation of the artist’s visual vocabulary, reconfiguring the familiar into welcoming rituals of discovery and acceptance.
Devin B. Johnson (b. 1992, Los Angeles) obtained his BA in Fine Arts from the California State University of Channel Islands (2015) and received a Masters of Fine Arts at Pratt Institute (2019). In addition to being named a 2023 Artist-in-Residence for Fountainhead, Miami, he was selected as an Artsy Vanguard (2022), named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Art and Design (2022) list, was included in Cultured’s “Young Artists 2021,” and was one of sixteen artists from around the world selected for the inaugural year of the Black Rock Senegal residency (2020). His work is collected by Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Pond Society, Shanghai; the Rubell Museum, Miami; the Columbus Museum of Art; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai; and many others. Exhibitions include Ritual of Welcome, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2024, solo, forthcoming); Black Rock Senegal, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, North Carolina (2024); Social Abstraction, curated by Antwaun Sargeant, Gagosian, Los Angeles and Hong Kong (2024); The Ballad of the Children of the Czar, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2024); Samantha Joy Groff, Devin B. Johnson, Katherina Olschbaur, Nicodim, New York (2023); Forms, Jeffrey Deitch and Gagosian, Miami (2023); Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest: 10 Years, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2023); PRESENT ‘23, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus (2023); Ritornellos, Nicoletti Contemporary, London (2023); MATERNITY LEAVE: NONE OF WOMEN BORN, Nicodim in collaboration with the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas (2023); Joshua Hagler, Devin B. Johnson, Nicola Samorì, Hugo Wilson, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2023); Night Owl, Massimo de Carlo (2022); Dak’Art Biennial, Dakar, Senegal (2022); Between Ground and Sky, Nicodim, New York (2022); My Heart Cries, I Set Out an Offering for You, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2021, solo); Long Walk, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2021, solo); Melody of a Memory, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2020, solo); When You Waked Up the Buffalo, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2020); Hollywood Babylon: A Re-Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Jeffrey Deitch, Nicodim, AUTRE Magazine, Los Angeles (2020); Atmosphere of Certain Uncertainty, Residency Gallery, Inglewood (2019, solo); and Incognito, ICA LA, Los Angeles (2019).