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Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order.
Thor Johnson has great stories. A lot of great stories. And a lot of shocking ones too. He’s been in and out of the art scene in Dallas since the 80’s, with his first exhibition when he was still in high school at the long-defunct Theatre Gallery, which was owned by Russell Hobbs in conjunction with his Prophet Bar. Although, he was never formally trained, Johnson’s art has been reviewed by major national publications, and his art remains some of the most provocative work in the city, with its consistent critique of the corrupt mythologies we use to build our societies from religion to politics.
Plus, Johnson is one of the most recognizable faces in the left of center Dallas art scene. You might not see him in slideshows of the DMA art ball, but if you frequent local concerts or art openings, he’s the one with the big smile dancing to the music.
Let’s start at the beginning. What is your art origin story?
Born here in Dallas, grew up in Lakewood on Lakewood Boulevard. I always drew, my mom got me clay and modeling supplies, watched Sesame Street and that kind of thing. When we moved when I was 10, a woman across the street from our new house, taught art lessons in her home, and it was very free. In high school, even though I went to this very repressive Christian school, I had this great art teacher. And I’m in this conservative environment, Reagan was the president, every day the rapture or the apocalypse was coming, and I didn’t believe any of it even as a kid, but to be around these people who did – that was a huge influence on my art.
Was it art all the way?
I wanted to be a genetic engineer, but it was too much math and science. I just wanted to make monsters.
When did you start to take it seriously?
I won a best Texas private schools watercolor, so that was cool. But, back then I used to go to these punk rock clubs in the 80’s, I was like 15 and they would let us in. After the Twlight Room came along, then Theater Gallery and Prophet Bar came along. I had an art show at Theater Gallery in March of ’87, and it got really good reviews. From that I had some other art shows, and more reviews. But then I got into music and had a good time with that, fell out of making art and made music instead.
Were you in a band?
Yeah, it was called Sofa Kingdom. It was more a sticker than a band. But we a few shows at played at Club Clearview, Trees.
So you never did the art school thing?
Well, I did go to UNT, but I had a bad experience there with a teacher. On the first day, this professor made us write down our experiences with art, and I thought it was just for her, so I wrote down the art shows I’d had that had been reviewed in national art publications. But then she made us hand them to the student next to us to read aloud. When the professor heard my stuff, her whole demeanor to me changed, nothing I did was good enough. I can figure draw fine, but it was never good enough anymore. Something someone else would get an A on, I would get a C on. But then my final project came around and she’s given me a C in the class, and asks me if she can have my final project. I told her she could buy it. So then I went out to a school in New Mexico where I had to study Ancient Greek, which was rough. I came back and worked for framing companies and artists.
Your work when it’s been displayed in Dallas since the beginning has received attention. Has the support for your work grown?
Yeah, the last couple of years have been the best. It was Art Peña and his Ware:Wolf:Haus show that gave me the encouragement to get back into it. Art and Kevin (Ruben Jacobs). I had been pretty inactive before that. When I met him at Oliver Francis Gallery, we met and we talked about a show.
A lot of your work is about religion in a powerfully negative way. Were all of your religious experiences bad?
It goes back to the Santa thing for me. I don’t think my parents did it consciously. But like Santa Claus is the first god that a lot of children know, he’s watching you, he’s going to judge you, and he’s going to reward you or punish you. And there’s nothing about Jesus and his death at first, it’s Santa and Rudolph and maybe baby Jesus. But then, a lot of Christians have this age of accountability thing, where five years old is when you’ll know right from wrong, and if you die after that and you don’t know the doctrine you’ll go to hell forever and be tortured by god’s enemy. Which that never made sense to me because if the devil is god’s enemy then why is he doing work for god? So, they’ll say around Easter time, they’ll tell you the Easter bunny isn’t real, and then Santa Claus isn’t real, but Jesus is the real reason for the season and he’s not going to ever be proven to be false. And you get this double whammy of my parents have been lying to me the whole time, but I have to believe this or i’m going to hell. It’s like what they do in espionage, build up a false belief and then shatter it. So that’s really deep in my view.
To me, your work, as dark as it is, can sometimes seem playful?
Yeah, I want it to be funny. Makes it go down easier. Spoonful of sugar or whatever. I don’t want to whine, or preach in any way, I’m interested in something deeper than that — the stuff that makes people assholes on all sides, no matter what their affiliation. And I’m not innocent of course.
What do you believe about the world?
I think that there are a lot of problems and not really any solutions. I think technology is going to help, advances in medicine, and being able to distribute things better. I’m talking about the future, hundreds of years from now. Barring global warming. Or a nuclear war.
100 Creatives:
100. Theater Mastermind Matt Posey
99. Comedy Queen Amanda Austin
98. Deep Ellum Enterpriser Brandon Castillo
97. Humanitarian Artist Willie Baronet
96. Funny Man Paul Varghese
95. Painting Provocateur Art Peña
94. Magic Man Trigg Watson
93. Enigmatic Musician George Quartz
92. Artistic Luminary Joshua King
91. Inventive Director Rene Moreno
90. Color Mavens Marianne Newsom and Sunny Sliger
89. Literary Lion Thea Temple
88. Movie Maestro Eric Steele
87. Storytelling Dynamo Nicole Stewart
86. Collaborative Artist Ryder Richards
85. Party Planning Print maker Raymond Butler
84. Avant-gardist Publisher Javier Valadez
83. Movie Nerd James Wallace
82. Artistic Tastemakers Elissa & Erin Stafford
81. Pioneering Arts Advocates Mark Lowry & Michael Warner
80. Imaginative Director Jeremy Bartel
79. Behind-the-Scenes Teacher Rachel Hull
78. Kaleidoscopic Artist Taylor “Effin” Cleveland
77. Filmmaker & Environmentalist Michael Cain
76. Music Activist Salim Nourallah
75. Underground Entrepreneur Daniel Yanez
74. Original Talent Celia Eberle
73. Comic Artist Aaron Aryanpur
72. Classical Thespian Raphael Parry
71. Dance Captain Valerie Shelton Tabor
70. Underground Culture Mainstay Karen X. Minzer
69. Effervescent Gallerist Brandy Michele Adams
68. Birthday Party Enthusiast Paige Chenault
67. Community Architect Monica Diodati
66. Intrepid Publisher Will Evans
65. Writerly Wit Noa Gavin
64. Maverick Artist Roberto Munguia
63. Fresh Perspective Kelsey Leigh Ervi
62. Virtuosic Violinist Nathan Olson
61. Open Classical’s Dynamic Duo Mark Landson & Patricia Yakesch
60. Rising Talent Michelle Rawlings
59. Adventurous Filmmaker Toby Halbrooks
58. Man of Mystery Edward Ruiz
57. Inquisitive Sculptor Val Curry
56. Offbeat Intellect Thomas Riccio
55. Doers and Makers Shannon Driscoll & Kayli House Cusick
54. Performance Pioneer Katherine Owens
53. Experimental Filmmaker and Video Artist Mike Morris
52. Flowering Fashioner Lucy Dang
51. Insightful Artist Stephen Lapthisophon
50. Dallas Arts District
49. Farmer’s Market Localvore Sarah Perry
48. Technological Painter John Pomara
47. Progressive Playmakers Christopher Carlos & Tina Parker
46. Purposive Chef Chad Houser
45. Absorbing Artist Jeff Gibbons
44. Artistic Integrator Erica Felicella
43. Multi-talented Director Tre Garrett
42. Anachronistic Musician Matt Tolentino
41. Emerging Veteran Actor Van Quattro
40. Festival Orchestrator Anna Sophia van Zweden
39. Literary Framer Karen Weiner
38. Man Behind the Music Gavin Mulloy
37. The Godfather of Dallas Art Frank Campagna
36. Rising Star Adam A. Anderson
35. Artist Organizer Heyd Fontenot
34. Music Innovator Stefan Gonzalez
33. Triple Threat Giovanni Valderas
32. Cultural Connector Lauren Cross
