Jess Johnson’s artworks are like something out of a science fiction novel. Usually not confined within a frame, they spill over into expansive installations that cover gallery walls and floors and even, most recently, a projection mapped animation on the whole exterior façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney in a large collaborative work titled Gamma World.

Born in Tauranga, Jess is now based in Melbourne where she co-founded Hell Gallery in 2008 – using a warehouse space and materials salvaged from the skips of larger art institutions (where she worked as a freelance art installer).  In 2010 Hell Gallery was invited to be part of an exhibition of independent art makers at the Tate Modern in London.  Since then, there has been no turning back for Jess with awards, exhibitions and residencies filling her diary to capacity.

Jess is coming to Spark between residencies in Australia and New York. She will be sharing about her career, running a gallery (and the opportunities that came from that), altered states and the construction of new realities, collaboration with artists and institutions, and having a studio practice as a full-time artist.