The Art of Movement with Johnson Simon

Join local artist Johnson Simon to explore techniques for expressing the wonderful ways bodies can move. How will you create movement in your artwork?

Johnson Simon is an Indianapolis-based artist of Haitian descent who seeks to convey a sense of movement through his artwork. He has always been interested in body movement, but it was a dance recital at Western Michigan University that inspired him to create his first dance-focused expressionistic painting. From then on, he became a student of how the body moves and expresses emotions. Now when he paints, he chooses bright colors and broad and sweeping motions with his paintbrush to transfer that feeling of movement onto the canvas.

As someone with a disability, movement impacts Johnson on a daily basis. His artwork is a way for him to express how he would move if he could do so freely and uninterrupted. Johnson states, “On canvas I can run, walk, jump, and I can dance without being bound by physical limitations. In that way, the paintbrush is an extension of me.”