Sven Johnson, painter and illustrator of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is pleased to present this online salon of recent paintings, in many cases matched to poems, lyrics, or dream fragments which have inspired the work or were written to compliment the work. Special thanks to Carmen Bardeguez-Brown who wrote a special series of poems to compliment the “Butterflies,” and Beth Middleworth who was the co-designer of this little cafe. In the Etsy Store section, limited-edition signed prints of these pieces are available for sale.
“The man walked on the surface of the water, looking through the clear sea down to the waving weeds, where schools of fish come and go. Looking up to the surface they are amazed to see only the soles of his feet leave brief ripples on the tension skin of their liquid ceiling. Above him the middle eastern burning heavens where the spirits of the just merge with clouds, changing from morning into afternoon, changing from cool dusk into glassy night.
Down at the shore, the warm sand dips below the water and away, children sit and muse upon the empty sky and deep sea. They eat their unleavened loaves and talk softly of the cities and deserts, they discuss the flight of the heron and the chambers of Solomon.
Strange omens gather. A fish has been caught with three eyes and a belly full of gold. Rain falls out of a weatherless void and tastes of sweat. People have been breaking into foreign speech, unintelligible and uncontrollable. An eagle hatches from a chickens egg. The children dip their brown feet in the warm water and connect into something. They become charged, they see visions, they hear voices. The leopards on the mountain prick up their ears and purr. Whales, thousands of miles away, emerge from the deepest oceans and snort huge plumes of spray; Monkeys in Ethiopia swing down from their trees and chatter. The children have gone, have become absorbed. Their parents will weep and candles will sputter out in deserted rooms, where simple beds are unslept in and cold. No one will visit this town again. The sea will never reveal its secrets. The fallout from a miracle eventually dissipates and returns, floating slowly back up to the sky.” —Poem by Steve Kilby.