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Called ‘Waters, Trees and other works,’ thematically nature is the muse, but there are no pleasing images of the ‘Mother’ nature. There is the feminine aspect of nature in the form of her being plundered.

The artist admits that there is nothing beautiful or fashionable about a cause such as Plachimada, and the only way a message can be sent out is in a form that is disturbing and visually sarcastic.

And it is not just the paintings that laugh at what culture has been reduced to. It is tempting to label Johns’ art as sensational, minus the derogatory connotations. The frames are conspicuous by their absence, “I have revulsion to the whole concept of framing. That limits or confines a painting. Why confine a painting, make it small?” says Johns.

As if making a statement, he has made use of ‘valueless material’ – discarded packaging material from Germany, old curtains, reams of packing paper, cloth are just some of the materials that he has used. His canvases are “valueless materials” where he has recycled materials adding artistic value to the valueless. The only frames that his paintings have are done by himself.

Not exactly the work of an amateur, the frames has an unvarnished old look. But these too meld with his message of the violation of nature, the politics of manipulation that seems to run the hyper-consumerist culture. A framed bark of mulberry with a womb in the centre (‘Womb of a Tree’) is very stark, bordering the disturbing. That is what was intended, says Johns, “it was in Thailand that I saw this bark in a shop selling paper.

To me it seemed cruel, akin to ripping off the skin of a living being which a tree anyway is. This is why I intentionally painted what I painted. To give people a jolt.”

Johns was involved with the activities of the now defunct Radical Painters and Sculptors Association. The radicalism is there, muted however.

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