Leo’s Pillar
Leo Johnson
Eirik Johnson
English
Softcover
Limited Edition of 100
40 pages
275 x 355 m
2025
During the early days of the pandemic, my son Leo became obsessed with the renowned photobook The Pillar by the photographer Stephen Gill. In that book, every wondrous picture depicts birds (from raptors to songbirds) that land on a pillar in the middle of a remote field in Sweden. A motion-detecting camera on a facing pillar captures the whimsical compositions of each bird.
Enamoured by the photographs, Leo began to draw and paint his own interpretations of Gill’s photographs of birds on oversized sketch pad book pages, a practice he continued for the next four years. The illustrations and paintings vary in process and sophistication, from line drawing to watercolour and crayon-resist paintings, mirroring Leo’s own growth as a young artist from age seven to eleven.
This limited-edition zine echoes the physicality and simple design of Leo’s original book pages, including every fingerprint, errant watercolour droplet and crayon smudge on the facing pages. Leo’s Pillar is a child’s creative reminder to slow down, pick up a photobook, and become inspired. The original artwork is bt Leo Johnson, published by his Dad, Erik Johnson.
(Source: https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/66695)
About the Artist
There is no information available about this artist.
About the Publisher
Photographic artist Eirik Johnson (b. 1974) makes conceptually grounded work examining the intersections of contemporary environmental, social, and cultural issues both in America and abroad. Employing various modes of presentation from photobooks to experiential photo and sound-based installation, Johnson’s photographic projects explore the marks and connections formed in the friction of this complicated relationship. He has exhibited his work at institutions including the Aperture Foundation, NY, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA, and the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY. Johnson is the recipient of numerous awards including the Santa Fe Prize, the Neddy Award, an Art Matters Grant, and a Fulbright Fellowship. His first monograph BORDERLANDS was published by Twin Palms Publishers in 2005 and was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York, and Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco. His second monograph Sawdust Mountain was published by Aperture in 2009 and culminated in exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery, the Aperture Foundation, and Vassar College. In 2018, Johnson published his third book PINE, with Minor Matters Books, for which he also produced a full-length vinyl album featuring original compositions by seven musicians. Johnson’s photobook Barrow Cabins, was published in 2019 by Ice Fog Press and in 2021 he self-published his most recent title Road to Nowhere. Johnson’s work is in the permanent collections of institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, NY, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.
https://www.eirikjohnson.com
(Source: https://www.eirikjohnson.com/about)
