Feast, 2018, oil on canvas/ SFU Art Collection. Gift of the Salish Weave Collection of George and Christiane Smyth, 2022. Photo: Janet Dwyer
Mating Eagles, 2006, serigraph on paper. SFU Art Collection. Gift of the Salish Weave Collection of George and Christiane Smyth, 2022. Photo: Janet Dwyer
Maynard Johnny Jr. is known for his elongated horizontal compositions. The Thunderbird in Feast is simplistic in its design, positioned as a flattened design against an abstracted, paint splattered background. In this work, Johnny Jr uses an innovative pictorial device where various elements are “cut out” of the image to create the look of feathers and distinct attributes of the Thunderbird. The image cleverly uses both positive and negative space to indicate form: the black background represents an orca whale, and the red splatter represents the orca’s blood as the Thunderbird feasts. Johnny Jr maintains a strict colour palette, generally only employing s a few colours at a time in his works.
Feast depicts a Coast Salish story in which an orca whale gets caught in the bay where the Cowichan River meets the ocean and eats all the salmon around it, preventing the remaining salmon from ascending the Cowichan River and consequently inflicting a period of starvation on the Cowichan people. The people called for the assistance of the Thunderbird who swooped down and preyed upon the whale.
Mating Eagles was Johnny Jr.’s first canvas painting and he later produced serigraphs of the image. The symmetrical eagles are created using crescents, circles, ovals, and trigons, which are traditional Coast Salish design elements. Inside the body cavities of the eagles are human faces that reflects the connection to and respect for nature and humans. Inspired by the spindle whorl, Johnny Jr. added a Salish weave blanket to the background of the eagles.
Maynard Johnny Jr. (b. 1973, Campbell River, British Columbia) is a Kwakwaka'wakw / Coast Salish artist from the Penelakut Band, Kuper Island. Johnny Jr. began sharpening his artistic skills in his teens and drew inspiration from Northwest Coast artists Art Thompson, Richard Hunt, Robert Davidson, and Mark Henderson. He works across different media, including printmaking, wood carving of masks and panels, and designing and creating jewellery in silver and gold. Johnny Jr. has designed logos for many Indigenous organizations and has won several design awards. A large sculpture of a salmon he designed was donated to the World Trade Centre in New York to honour those lost in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Johnny Jr.’s work has been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Victoria and Vancouver. He was featured in the Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2 exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, (New York City, USA) in 2005, and 2009 his work adorned the cedar gift boxes that were given to special guests at the Canadian Juno Music Awards. His works can also be seen in film and television.
Johnny Jr. currently lives in Chemainus, British Columbia.