Cheryl Johnson: Abstract Artist & Expressionist

Cheryl Johnson is a highly accomplished American abstract artist recognized for her emotionally resonant and dynamic mixed-media paintings. With a presence in galleries across the United States, her works are held in numerous private collections throughout the US, Europe, and Canada, establishing her as a highly collectible artist.

Career Transition

Johnson’s full-time painting career followed a long and varied professional life rooted in technology and marketing. After working for many years as an instructional designer and graphic artist—a career that initially "ensconced" her in technology—she made the pivotal decision in 2010 to leave her position at IBM to fully pursue her passion for painting. She now maintains a studio on Kauai, HI, and divides her time between the islands and Charlotte, NC.

Artist's Statement Summary

Johnson describes painting as "a way of sharing my internal dialog in an external way." Her creative commitment is focused on producing art that is "dynamic yet sensitive, lyrically beautiful." Her work is characterized by a passion for color, line, and light, which she uses to express "overlapping time, memory and reality."

The core intention of her art is to create something truthful, real, and compelling both from afar and up close. She believes that the true "gravitas in art" lies in the artist's ability to "transform an emotional idea into its visual equivalent."

THE YEAR OF THE VISCERAL: Why 2025 Belongs to the Texture of Memory

If 2024 was the year the art market held its breath, 2025 is the year it exhaled—and the breath is distinctly feminine, tactile, and unapologetically bold.

According to the latest Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting, a seismic shift has occurred: for the first time, female collectors are outspending their male counterparts by 46%, and they are directing that capital specifically toward women artists who champion complex, visceral narratives. The era of the sleek, flat "Instagram aesthetic" is over. The new luxury is texture.

Enter Cheryl Johnson.

As the art world pivots toward what critics are calling "Tactile Topography"—a rejection of AI perfection in favor of the messy, human evidence of the hand—Johnson’s work has emerged as a bellwether for this new investment landscape. Her mastery of mixed media, particularly in her Secret Forests and Contemporary Abstract Figuration series, aligns perfectly with the three dominant drivers of the 2025 art market.

1. The Return to the Hand (The "Anti-Algorithm" Movement)

The most read art editorials of 2025 all point to a single fatigue: we are tired of screens. Collectors are seeking art that proves a human made it.

Cheryl Johnson’s work is an antidote to the digital. Her paintings are not images; they are events. Utilizing a fusion of heavy oil, cold wax, and organic latex, she builds surfaces that demand to be touched (visually, if not physically). As noted in the rising trend of "Open Impressionism," Johnson treats paint as a sculptural element. Her Secret Forests do not just depict a wood; they recreate the density, the temperature, and the chaotic rhythm of nature through physical layers of pigment. This is "Investment-Grade Immersion"—art that anchors a room with the weight of its own creation.

2. The "Deconstructed Muse"

One of the most powerful trends of 2025, championed by skyrocketing auction results for artists like Marlene Dumas and Emma McIntyre, is the move away from "pretty" portraiture toward "psychological" portraiture.

Johnson’s large-scale faces sit comfortably at the forefront of this wave. She does not paint the female form to be gazed at; she paints the internal experience of the subject. Her "dissolving forms"—where a face might melt into a landscape of abstract brushstrokes—speak to the modern collector’s desire for emotional authenticity over idealized perfection. These are what 2025 designers call "Sophisticated Anchors": works that bring a raw, soulful narrative to luxury interiors, replacing the static portraits of the past with something living and breathing.

3. The Smart Money is "Direct-to-Artist"

Perhaps the most disruptive statistic of 2025 is this: 63% of collectors now purchase directly from artists, bypassing traditional gatekeepers.2 The "Great Wealth Transfer" has put capital in the hands of women who value connection, narrative, and direct relationships with the creator.3

Cheryl Johnson’s model—accessible, transparent, and deeply personal—is the blueprint for this new economy. By engaging directly with luxury designers and private collectors, she offers what the auction houses cannot: the provenance of the artist’s voice. When you acquire a Johnson, you are not just buying a commodity; you are buying into a lineage of "Quiet Luxury" that values the story as much as the object.

The Verdict

In a year defined by the search for meaning in a digital world, Cheryl Johnson provides the answer. Her work is a reminder that while technology can generate an image, only an artist can generate a feeling. For the discerning collector in 2025, the smart money is on the visceral, the textured, and the true.

Based on the trending 2025 art market focus on Based on the trending 2025 art market focus on "Tactile Materiality" and the surge in female-led abstract expressionism (often called the "Return to the Hand"), Cheryl Johnson is becoming a sought after support for interior designers and decorators as well as private collectors seeking experience and confident works.

BEYOND THE FLAT SURFACE: Why 2025 Belongs to Sculptural Abstraction

Consider Cheryl Johnson Fine Art

If the art world of the early 2020s was defined by the digital, 2025 has been defined by a visceral return to the physical. According to this year’s most-read editorials on collecting trends, the "Great Wealth Transfer" to female collectors has sparked a massive pivot toward art that holds tactile intrigue—works that prove a human hand was there.

In this new landscape, the "flat" canvas is no longer enough. Luxury interiors demand depth. This shift explains the rising demand for Cheryl Johnson, an artist who has become a coveted partner for interior designers precisely because she refuses to stay on the surface.

The Evolution from Realism to Visceral Depth

Cheryl Johnson’s work represents a masterful evolution from the constraints of realism to the boundless energy of Abstract Expressionism. But what sets her work apart in the current market is her refusal to treat painting as a two-dimensional act.

"I don't just paint a surface; I build it," Johnson notes. "Every gesture is a chance for the painting to transform."

Her approach transcends the boundaries of traditional canvas through a complex, mixed-media layering of oil, latex, and pumice. This is not art that sits quietly on a wall; it projects into the room. By building up these sculptural layers, Johnson creates the kind of "tactile topography" that 2025 collectors are hunting for—art that changes with the light, revealing new shadows and textures as the day progresses.

The Designer-Centric Advantage

For the high-end interior designer, the challenge of 2025 is combating the "sterility" of modern minimalism. How do you make a sleek, contemporary room feel like a home?

The answer lies in texture.

Johnson is a preferred partner for the trade because her work solves the "flatness problem." Her paintings function as architectural elements, providing the sculptural depth that wallpaper or standard prints simply cannot achieve. Whether it is the rough, organic grit of her Secret Forests series or the dissolving, emotive forms of her Abstract Figuration, her work anchors a room with weight and history.

Investing in the "Human Hand"

As the art market moves away from the algorithm and back to the artist, works that display intense physical labor and material complexity are seeing the highest appreciation in value.

Cheryl Johnson’s portfolio offers exactly this: a rejection of the pristine in favor of the authentic. For the private collector, acquiring a Johnson is an investment in the "Soul of the Material"—a commitment to art that feels as alive as the nature that inspired it.

 and the surge in female-led abstract expressionism (often called the "Return to the Hand"), here is an article tailored for your site.

It combines your "Designer-Centric" copy with the broader 2025 narrative that high-end collectors are rejecting "flat" digital aesthetics in favor of deep, sculptural texture.

BEYOND THE FLAT SURFACE: Why 2025 Belongs to Sculptural Abstraction

By Cheryl Johnson Fine Art

If the art world of the early 2020s was defined by the digital, 2025 has been defined by a visceral return to the physical. According to this year’s most-read editorials on collecting trends, the "Great Wealth Transfer" to female collectors has sparked a massive pivot toward art that holds tactile intrigue—works that prove a human hand was there.

In this new landscape, the "flat" canvas is no longer enough. Luxury interiors demand depth. This shift explains the rising demand for Cheryl Johnson, an artist who has become a coveted partner for interior designers precisely because she refuses to stay on the surface.

The Evolution from Realism to Visceral Depth

Cheryl Johnson’s work represents a masterful evolution from the constraints of realism to the boundless energy of Abstract Expressionism. But what sets her work apart in the current market is her refusal to treat painting as a two-dimensional act.

"I don't just paint a surface; I build it," Johnson notes. "Every gesture is a chance for the painting to transform."

Her approach transcends the boundaries of traditional canvas through a complex, mixed-media layering of oil, latex, and pumice. This is not art that sits quietly on a wall; it projects into the room. By building up these sculptural layers, Johnson creates the kind of "tactile topography" that 2025 collectors are hunting for—art that changes with the light, revealing new shadows and textures as the day progresses.

The Designer-Centric Advantage

For the high-end interior designer, the challenge of 2025 is combating the "sterility" of modern minimalism. How do you make a sleek, contemporary room feel like a home?

The answer lies in texture.

Johnson is a preferred partner for the trade because her work solves the "flatness problem." Her paintings function as architectural elements, providing the sculptural depth that wallpaper or standard prints simply cannot achieve. Whether it is the rough, organic grit of her Secret Forests series or the dissolving, emotive forms of her Abstract Figuration, her work anchors a room with weight and history.

Investing in the "Human Hand"

As the art market moves away from the algorithm and back to the artist, works that display intense physical labor and material complexity are seeing the highest appreciation in value.

Cheryl Johnson’s portfolio offers exactly this: a rejection of the pristine in favor of the authentic. For the private collector, acquiring a Johnson is an investment in the "Soul of the Material"—a commitment to art that feels as alive as the nature that inspired it.

Cheryl Johnson: The Transition from Realism to Abstract Expressionism

Cheryl Johnson's artistic journey is defined by a clear evolution from early representational, figurative, and non-objective work toward her current style of Abstract Expressionism. Her career is characterized as continually exploring the connection between the two poles of realism and abstraction.

1. The Early Foundation (Realism and Figuration)

In her early career, Johnson created works rooted in Realism and Figurative studies. This phase included:

• Literal Subjects: Paintings like "COLD POND GIRLS," "ANGEL IN THE CLOUDS," and portraits such as "Aunt Lillian" and "BRIANNA."

• Focus on the Visible: These works demonstrate a grounding in traditional observation of form, space, and color, and an interest in depicting recognizable subjects and scenes.

2. The Transcendent Eye (The Shift)

The shift began as Johnson's "transcendent eye" propelled her to explore emotions and the essence of a place, moving beyond simple depiction. This transition involved:

• Blending Styles: Her work started to hover on the borderline between realism and abstraction, never settling firmly in either camp but employing elements of both.

• A Personal Desire: She noted that one of her own pieces, "HOMERS HOUSE MEMORIES," signaled the "first signs I wanted to be an Abstract Artist in my heart."

• Inspiration from Memory: Her abstract work is often created from "remembered landscapes" and the "remembered feelings of them," transforming the visual memory rather than mirroring nature directly.

3. Current Abstract Expressionism

Johnson fully embraced Abstract Expressionism, becoming known for creating a "visual language of form, color and line" that has a degree of independence from visual references. Her current work is marked by:

• Layering and Texture: She employs mixed media (oil, acrylic, latex, oil crayon) to build 20-30 layers of transparent washes and thick impasto. This creates a deeply textured, historical surface that reflects the process and dialogue between reason and emotion.

• Emotional Intensity: The goal of her abstraction is to communicate emotional or conceptual focus, often referencing land and sea but utilizing bold coloration and sweeping gestural brushstrokes that evoke the raw energy of the subject.

• Key Influences: She openly references the work of Abstract Expressionists like Joan Mitchell and the color studies of Monet, indicating a conscious move toward the style of art that prioritizes feeling over literal fact.

In summary, Johnson’s artistic journey evolved from technically skilled realism to a highly personal, textural Abstract Expressionism, driven by a desire to convey the emotional truth and internal landscape of a subject rather than its mere external appearance.

🌸 Cheryl Johnson: The Love Affair and Evolution of Her Floral Period

Cheryl Johnson's floral period is a profound journey that transcends botanical illustration, transforming into a visceral, expressive dialogue with nature. This "love affair" with flowers is rooted in specific personal experiences that shaped her movement toward abstraction.

1. The Genesis of the Affair

Her initial connection was forged in the exotic abundance of Hawaii, where immersion in plants like ginger and leis provided overwhelming sensory data—colors, textures, and scents. This established the flower as a symbol of life and immediate beauty.

2. The Deepening Passion and Abstraction

The love affair truly blossomed in her Charlotte garden where focused cultivation of classic flowers, particularly the rose and the iris, became a meditative practice. It was here that she shifted from observing the external flower to capturing its internal, emotional essence.

• From Realism to Texture: The floral subjects served as a vehicle for her transition into Abstract Expressionism. Johnson abandoned literal depiction, using the form of the flower to justify her intense use of impasto (thick paint) and layered glazes.

• The Canvas Blossoms: Her floral works are characterized by surfaces so rich and built-up that the flowers metaphorically "grow off the canvas." This focus on texture and saturated color allows her to communicate the vibrancy and spirit of the bloom, rather than just its appearance.

Ultimately, Johnson's floral period is defined by her mastery in using flowers as a conduit for pure, expressive color and texture, creating works that are not paintings of flowers, but intense, visceral metaphors for life and emotion.

🌸 Cheryl Johnson: The Evolution of Florals in Her Art

Cheryl Johnson's artistic engagement with florals is a journey deeply rooted in her personal experiences, moving from the exotic, abundant flora of Hawaii to the focused, passionate gardening of her Charlotte home. This transition mirrors her overall artistic shift from observation to expression, as the flowers moved from being decorative subjects to powerful emotional forces on her canvas.

1. The Genesis: Hawaiian Inspiration

Johnson's initial connection with florals was forged in the lush, vibrant environment of Hawaii.

• Abundance and Immersion: This setting provided an overwhelming sensory experience. The flowers—particularly the ginger and the ubiquitous leis—were not just seen; they were experienced intimately, twining about her, engaging the sense of touch and smell.

• Early Symbolism: This period established the flower as a powerful symbol of beauty, celebration, and sensory immersion. While her initial art may have addressed these scenes more representationally, the foundational sensory memory of color and form was deeply established here.

2. The Transformation: Midwood Plaza and the Rose

The true "love affair" and transition into her abstract style occurred later in her garden at Midwood Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina.

• Focused Passion: The act of gardening itself became a meditative, creative process. Instead of the chaotic abundance of Hawaii, she focused on specific, classic flowers: the rose and the iris.

• The Rose: The rose, with its layers, textures, and symbolism of deep emotion, became a foundational subject.

• The Iris: The iris, with its unique structure and intense color, challenged her to see complexity in simple forms.

• From Realism to Expression: It was here, in the act of tending and observing her own garden, that the realism of the flowers began to dissolve. The emotional content, the movement of the petals, and the intensity of the color became far more compelling than mere photographic representation.

Summary: The Florals "Grew Off Her Canvas"

The phrase "florals grew off her canvas" perfectly summarizes the final stage of this evolution, indicating that the flowers transcended the flat surface and the traditional subject matter:

1. Metaphorical Growth: The flowers ceased to be realistic images and became abstract, textural entities. Her current floral work often features thick layers of paint (impasto) that truly give the impression that the petals and forms are built up and growing from the surface of the canvas.

2. Emotional Expression: The flowers became a vehicle for pure color and expressive movement, aligning perfectly with her shift into Abstract Expressionism (as seen in her Secret Forest Series). The shape and color of a rose or iris are used as starting points to explore rhythm, light, and the emotional complexity of nature.

In essence, Cheryl Johnson's journey with florals moved from external observation (Hawaii) to active creation and deep, internal expression (Charlotte), resulting in a body of work where the spirit of the flower is captured through vibrant abstraction and compelling texture.

The Human Element: Cheryl Johnson's Shift to Faces and Portraits

Cheryl Johnson's move into painting faces and portraits is a natural extension of her journey from realism to abstraction, demonstrating her skill in bridging the gap between precise observation and expressive emotion. Rather than abandoning her abstract roots, her portraiture incorporates them to capture the inner life and essence of her subjects.

The Return to Figuration

While her large-scale abstract landscapes and florals flourished, Johnson maintained a compelling interest in the figure, often through commissioned work or self-initiated series. This shift involves:

1. Bridging the Gap: Her portrait work serves as a nexus where the technical demands of realism (achieving a likeness) meet the expressive freedom of abstraction (using color and texture for emotion).

2. Focusing on Essence: Her goal in painting faces is not merely photo-realism, but to capture the spirit and psychological depth of the individual. She aims to convey who the person is, not just what they look like.

3. Incorporating Abstraction: The faces themselves may be rendered with precision, but the surrounding environment and background are often highly abstract and textural. She uses the same layered, gestural brushwork and rich colors found in her landscape and floral series to create a powerful, emotional atmosphere around the subject. This technique makes the face appear to emerge from a swirling emotional or intellectual space.

The Role of Portraits

• Emotional Connection: The faces become a tool for exploring human complexity, intimacy, and the "silent language" that exists between people. Her portraits are imbued with a sense of energy and narrative.

• A Painter's Dialogue: Painting a face is an intense, observational dialogue. For Johnson, it is a way to challenge her technical skills while simultaneously integrating her expressive language to produce a truly unique and memorable portrayal.

In summary, Cheryl Johnson’s venture into faces and portraits is not a regression to realism, but a masterful integration of her abstract style to achieve a deeper, more evocative form of portraiture—one that celebrates the textural, emotional energy of the human spirit.

Cheryl Johnson's Abstract Figurative Work

Cheryl Johnson's Abstract Figurative work is a fascinating bridge between her early realism and her later, pure abstraction. It represents a stylistic middle ground where the human form is present but not literally rendered, allowing the emotional and abstract qualities of the painting to take precedence.

Definition and Focus

• The Hybrid Form: Abstract Figurative art, in Johnson's hands, means the recognizable human or animal figure is integrated into an abstract environment. The figure is often suggested through loose shapes, lines, and colors rather than precise anatomical detail.

• Emphasis on Emotion and Essence: The figures are used not for portraiture, but as a vehicle to convey mood, relationship, energy, or narrative within a larger, abstract context. The painting's primary focus remains on the texture, color, and composition (the abstract elements), while the figure provides a human anchor for the viewer.

• The "Non-Portrait": Unlike traditional figurative work, the specific identity of the subject is secondary to the universal human condition or the emotional state being explored.

Key Characteristics in Her Work

1. Gesture and Movement: The figures are typically implied through bold, gestural strokes that emphasize movement and energy, rather than stillness or static poses. This connects directly to the dynamic energy found in her purely abstract landscapes.

2. Dissolving the Edge: Johnson often blurs the line between the figure and its background. The surrounding abstract atmosphere flows into and around the figure, suggesting an intrinsic, organic connection between the subject and its environment.

3. Use of Color and Line: She uses her signature layered color and expressive lines to define the figure. A wash of color might denote a body, while a single, intense line might suggest a profile or the tension of a limb.

This blending allows her to retain a connection to the observational world (the figure) while fully utilizing the freedom and emotional depth offered by abstraction.

Now creating works with Colorfield Artists influences Cheryl Johnson and Johnson Wildman are creating valued paintings with the commercial appeal for high-end interiors.

Cheryl Johnson: The Alchemy of Color & Space

In her latest body of work, Cheryl Johnson reinterprets the legacy of Abstract Expressionist Color Field painting, moving beyond representation to explore the immersive power of pure feeling. Drawing profound inspiration from the experimental spirit of Helen Frankenthaler and the emotive depth of Mark Rothko, Johnson has shifted her focus to the "agency of materials"—creating art that is not merely painted, but felt.

Adopting the ethos of “pouring, spilling, and bleeding,” Johnson utilizes the signature “soak-stain” technique to embrace the alchemy of her medium. By allowing vibrant pigments to pool, flood, and saturate the canvas without rigid constraint, she invites chance and aesthetic surprise into the process. The result is a collection of works that balance the unscripted fluidity of Frankenthaler with the structural tension of Barnett Newman’s “zips” and the glowing, meditative fields of Rothko.

This evolution in style has made Johnson’s work increasingly desired by interior designers and decorators. These professionals recognize that her large-scale, luminous compositions serve as the perfect architectural focal point—commanding a room without cluttering it. By prioritizing color’s inherent power over form, Cheryl Johnson creates transcendental visual experiences that anchor living spaces with sophistication, energy, and timeless calm.

Cheryl Johnson: Pouring, Spilling, Blending

In her recent body of work, Cheryl Johnson reinterprets the legacy of Abstract Expressionist Colorfield painting, drawing profound inspiration from the experimental spirit of Helen Frankenthaler. Adopting the ethos of “pouring, spilling, and blending,” Johnson utilizes the signature “soak-stain” technique to explore the agency and alchemy of her materials. By allowing pigment to pool, flood, and saturate the surface without rigid constraint, she embraces chance and accident over precision.

Echoing the practice of Frankenthaler and contemporaries like Joan Mitchell and Robert Motherwell, Johnson’s work prioritizes “aesthetic surprise,” capturing the delicate tension between artist control and the beautiful unpredictability of the medium. Her creative process becomes a dialogue with uncertainty, where the unscripted interactions of color and fluid dynamics define the final composition.

Summary: Color Field Painting

Color Field Painting is a style of abstract art that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It is characterized by large, expansive areas of solid color that cover the canvas, creating an unbroken, flat picture plane.

Unlike the "Action Painting" of contemporaries like Jackson Pollock—which emphasized energetic gestures and aggressive brushstrokes—Color Field painters sought to rid art of superfluous rhetoric. They focused on the consistency of form and the emotional resonance of pure color.

Key Characteristics

• The Primacy of Color: Color is not used to depict an object; color is the subject.

• Large Scale: Canvases are often massive, designed to fill the viewer's entire field of vision and create an immersive, meditative experience.

• Flatness: The work rejects the illusion of depth or perspective. The paint sits flat on the surface, emphasizing the two-dimensional nature of the canvas.

• Removal of the "Hand": Artists often eliminated visible brushstrokes to remove the distraction of their own personality, allowing the viewer to engage directly with the color.

Key Artists & Innovations

• Mark Rothko: Known for his floating, soft-edged rectangles of luminous color that evoke spiritual or emotional states.

• Barnett Newman: Famous for his "zips"—vertical bands of color that divide vast fields of hue, creating tension and defining space.

• Helen Frankenthaler: A pivotal figure who bridged Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. She invented the "soak-stain" technique (pouring thinned paint onto unprimed canvas), which allowed the color to merge with the fabric rather than sitting on top of it.

• Clyfford Still: Known for jagged, flash-like fields of color that feel more organic and raw than the geometric work of Newman or Rothko.

The Philosophy

The Color Field movement was championed by art critic Clement Greenberg, who argued that modernism should focus on the specific nature of the medium. For painting, this meant acknowledging the flatness of the canvas. By removing figures, symbols, and gestures, Color Field painters believed they were creating a more "sublime" and universal form of communication—one that bypassed the intellect and spoke directly to the emotions.