Johnny Abrahams (b.1979, Tacoma, WA) lives and works in London. The artist's abstract paintings initially present as minimal explorations of form and color, yet upon closer inspection, a haptic depth emerges through their tactile materiality. Abrahams' use of raw hessian as sensory ground, the enigmatic texture of his layered oil paint and the subtle flows created through rhythmic use of a palette knife all invite careful contemplation. In this collection of works, a chorus of subtle idiosyncrasies and painterly traces merge in captivating oscillations that bring these refined paintings to life. For Abrahams, what is left unsaid becomes as important as what is said. His paintings hum with a vital understanding that the quiet spaces between marks can make as authoritative a statement as the painterly gestures in themselves.

His work is included in important public and private collections internationally including; Pérez Art Museum (Miami), Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (Madrid), Museum of Contemporary Art (Busan), Park Seo Bo Foundation (Seoul), Dalloul Art Foundation (Beirut), Farjam Foundation(Dubai).

Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions include: 'Honey in the hay, hail in the heather', Encounter, Lisbon (2025), ‘24 Colors for Junichi’, MAKI Gallery, Tokyo (2024) ‘Sympatheia', Vigo Gallery, London (2024), ‘Therapy Apple’, Vigo Gallery, London (2023),‘Will it get some wind for the sails,’ Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2023), ‘Dog’s Dinner’, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (2023), Primaries, Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2022),‘the natural solace of labor’, Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2022),‘You & I Are Earth’, 1661, Vigo Gallery, London (2022),‘The very color of welcome’, Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2022), ‘Liths’, Choi and Lager, Seoul (2021), ‘Two-person exhibition with Otis Jones’, Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2021), ‘After Hyacinth, After Anemone’, Vigo Gallery, London (2021),‘Red weakens an hour’, Jack Hanley Gallery, East Hampton, NY (2021), ‘Two-person exhibition with Bosco Sodi’, Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2021), ‘In the divinely human state of nobodiness’, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (2021),‘A Sprint for the Idler’, Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2021), ‘Archaic torso of Apollo’, Sunday-S Gallery, Copenhagen (2020),‘The Hare Beneath the Harrow’, Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2020),‘Making Flowers Alive’, Choi and Lager, Cologne (2020),‘The Dark Side / The Bright Side’, with Davide Baliano, Bjorn and Gundorph Gallery, Aarhus, Denmark (2020), ‘I am the tortoise, but also the cat and the dog’, Vigo Gallery, London (2018), ‘10 Paintings’, Choi and Lager, Seoul (2018), ‘x, y, zero’, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (2015), ‘Interference Study’, Vigo Gallery, London (2013),‘Conclusion: Inconclusive’, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (2013).

Selected Group Exhibitions: ‘Assembly 3’, Assembly, Monticello, NY (2024), ‘Ways of Seeing’, JARILAGER Gallery, Cologne (2022), ‘Hidden UK’, Hidden Ireland, curated by Sean Scully, Flowers Gallery, London (2022), ‘Take Up Space', Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH (2018),‘Superposition’, curated by Johnny Abrahams, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY (2018), ‘Two on Two’, The Hole, New York, NY (2016), ‘Fertile Ground’, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA (2014),‘Now-ism’, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH (2014), ‘Warp and Woof’, The Hole, New York, NY (2014).

Artist Page at Encounter

Johnny Abrahams

Selected Works