Magic realist

Aotearoa North Carolina (US) artist Robert Johnson has just returned from a three month stint in NZ. The magic realist painter bought an old van in Auckland and toured the country from north to south. His resulting works are being shown in Asheville, North Carolina, in an exhibition titled Robert Johnson’s New Zealand. “[NZ has] evolved quite separately from all other parts of the world,” he says. “New Zealand is one of those places I’ve always been fascinated with.” Johnson’s works combine meticulously rendered flora and fauna with native motifs and unusual representations of space and dimension. Robert Johnson’s New Zealand is on at Asheville’s Blue Spiral Gallery until December 29.