Claudette Johnson
2020
Pastel and gouache on paper
121.9 x 152.4 cm
This is one of Claudette Johnson’s most enigmatic works. The young man’s striking features, beautifully and sensitively shaped in pastel, draw us in and set us wondering about his identity and story. Adrift on a sea of blue, he might be regally posed on a couch or perched on a makeshift bed. The work has its origins in a photograph by the South African photographer Peter Magubane, which inspired Johnson to transform the composition of that image to create this work. The atmosphere of wistful contemplation she achieves is matched by the title Kind of Blue, taken from Miles Davis’s famous jazz album.