Charles Johnstone

Havana - New York - Venice

Charles Johnstone

Empty swimming pools, abandoned streets and playgrounds: Charles Johnstone’s first major photo project Havana (2006) shows us unusually still moments in this otherwise bustling Cuban metropolis. An autodidact, Johnstone dedicated the five series that followed entirely to his hometown New York, depicting the everyday, often overlooked poetry of the urban environment: basketball courts, handball courts, empty pools, storefront churches and corrugated iron fences – places in New York, both familiar and anonymous, that we walk past every day without noticing.
Ten years after Havana, Johnstone’s focus has shifted to newspaper kiosks in the picturesque scenery of Venice. This most recent project will be shown for the first time in the exhibition, together with selected works from each of his photo series.
Johnstone’s classical colour photographs are marked by a lack of people; they are square in format and combine perfect light with a graphically composed structure. Each project is accompanied by a limited-edition photo book that documents and emphasizes the serial nature of his work.