LEROY JOHNSON, HOUSE SCULPTURES

“You Been Had” (c. 2000–2005), mixed media, found object, and collage, 17 x 16 1/2 x 8 inches

“Spirit House” (c. 2005–2010) mixed media, found object, and collage, 19 1/4 x 20 x 13 1/2 inches

“Stop!” (c. 2010-2015), mixed media, found objects, and collage, 10 1/4 x 19 1/2 x 8 inches.

“Bad” (c. 2005-2010) mixed media, found objects, and collage, 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches

“Environmental Terrorist” (2000-2005), mixed media, found objects, and collage, 18 x 12 x 8 inches

“Heart of Darkness” (c. 1995–2000), mixed media, found object, and collage, 13 x 11 x 6 inches

“Act Now” (c. 200-2010), mixed media, found objects, and collage, 9 3/4 x 9 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches

“Nails” (c. 2005-2010), mixed media, found objects, and collage, 21 1/2 x 11 x 6 inches

“Who Is Eligible?” (c. 2010-2015), mixed media, found objects, and collage, 10 x 24 x 15 inches

Photos by Claire Itis.

“A collection of the artist’s house sculptures made “with a documentarian’s eye but a poet’s gaze,” says a gallery statement. His pieces capture a city in transition, peering into its past to underscore the myriad experiences of its present.

Through his occupations as a social worker, teacher of disabled youth, rehab counselor, and school administrator, Johnson “surveyed the pleasures, hardships, and contradictions within the Philadelphia neighborhoods where he spent his life,” Margot Samel says, and he “pierced the fabric of collective human experience more deeply than most.”

Johnson’s abstract, mixed-media houses often feature photographs of people and gatherings, graffiti and text, and swishes of paint or residual imagery from found objects. The gallery adds, “As an African American artist who witnessed the civil rights movement and the impact of racist policies on communities he loved, Johnson took particular pleasure in depicting the richness of Black life.” - Colossal