Samuel Warren Johnson

Samuel Johnson

    Samuel W. Johnson was born in Newton, MA on March 20th, 1998. Plagued by intense nightmares as a child, he resolved to face these nightmares and embrace them on his own terms by channelling their imagery to paper. He defines his work as otherworldly horror, and strives to portray the unthinkable and possibilities of what lies beyond the human scope of knowledge. However, the artwork itself is only the first piece of the experience he hopes to create. When viewers see his work, Samuel wants them to be overcome by discomfort, disgust, surprise, but most importantly, to be drawn back for more afterwards. A spike of fear and adrenaline will ideally stick in the viewers’ minds, psychologically driving them to chase that same high over and over. Samuel’s medium of choice is digital painting, particularly Photoshop. This platform allows for free form painting and offers a plethora of possibilities stylistically and visually.

He graduated from Natick High School and went on to attend Virginia Commonwealth University, where he studied Illustration and Business Marketing. During his time at VCU, he worked with several design firms, including EPAM in Boston and P9 in New Jersey. He won two silver keys and one gold key in the Scholastic Art Competition in 2015 and 2016. When he isn’t creating art, he spends his time playing soccer and producing music.