Jess Johnson: If They Cry Feed Them More

Giclée print on archival cotton rag paper with four deckled edges.

Unlimited edition; signed by the artist.

100% of profits will go towards feeding, vetting and rehoming the neighborhood street cats of Red Hook.

"At the start of Covid I fell into looking after a colony of stray cats that live in a truck lot in Red Hook. Most of the ones I look after are dumped pets and they're not equipped to survive outside without help. Sales of this print will go towards caretaking costs of this colony (food, vet bills and rehoming the friendly ones) and to Brooklyn locals who self fund TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release), which helps keep the neighbourhood cat populations under control.

The drawing text comes from the cat-sitting instructions I would leave for my two cats Mike and Kelley in Melbourne, Australia, named after the artist Mike Kelley (RIP)."

Jess Johnson was born in Tauranga, New Zealand in 1979. In 2016, she relocated permanently to New York after twelve years of living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Her practice is influenced by the speculative intersections between language, science fiction, culture, and technology. Her drawings depict complex worlds that combine densely layered patterns, objects, and figures within architectural settings. Johnson’s drawings are often displayed within constructed environments that act as physical portals into her speculative worlds. Her recent collaborations with Simon Ward have involved translating her drawings into animated video and virtual reality, giving audiences the simulated experience of entering the hypnotic realms depicted in her drawings. Johnson’s work has been exhibited at Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY; Art Basel, Hong Kong, China; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland; Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China; Centre Clark, Montreal, Canada; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Alaska Projects, Sydney, Australia; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand; Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand; and National Gallery of Victoria, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Monash University Museum of Art, and Gertrude Contemporary, all in Melbourne, Australia.