James W. Johnson was born and raised in Upstate NY and moved to Lubbock, Texas in 1978. He received an MFA from Texas Tech University in 1981 and has continued to live in Lubbock as a studio artist. In February, 2011, James was co-winner of the 2011 Willian D Kerns Award for the Visual Arts from the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts.
Johnson has studied and made art for more than 35 years. While being primarily a painter, he has produced a complex body of work in a wide variety of mediums such painting, video, drawing, sculpture, etching, digital, mixed media and furniture. James W. Johnson has participated in over 170 exhibitions worldwide.
Living “outside” of the mainstream art world has allowed James to perfect his craft and independently pursue an impressive flow of ideas and images that defy categorization, yet present his observations about art and life from his unique perspective.