Ice Age 

Curator: Let’s discuss "Ice Age," a mixed-media print by Ynez Johnston. What's your initial impression? Editor: It strikes me as a map of sorts, perhaps an archeological record, but intentionally obscured, filtered through the artist's vision. The layering creates depth but also a sense of disorientation. Curator: The method of production interests me—how Johnston combines printmaking with possibly watercolor or gouache. Considering her abstract approach, does the title hint at environmental commentary, the literal earth shifting beneath us due to climate change? The artist often combines techniques blurring the lines of labor within the creative process, disrupting hierarchical thinking. Editor: Semiotically speaking, these figures, these abstracted glyphs—they beckon decoding. The textural complexity, the visual strata evoke millennia condensed into a single plane. Look at the balance, the interplay between chaos and formal order. Curator: Exactly! And don’t you wonder what impact living in Los Angeles during the mid-century had on her work? Think about mass production meeting artistic endeavors. It feels important to place it within her studio context. It shows how she reclaims control by manually intervening. Editor: Yet, stepping back, this is a unified composition. The artist's color palette works toward atmospheric cohesiveness and formal completion, a distinct symbolic totality of ancient glyphs and structures. The layering effect emphasizes, rather than undermines, the overarching design and composition. Curator: The piece operates at the nexus of technique and expression. Each stage of production offers different avenues for control, inviting Johnston to intervene, re-work, and create dialogue. It reveals how modernist artists questioned ideas about mass production. Editor: "Ice Age," evokes a chilling intellectual formalism but is tempered by the warmth of Johnston's mark making. Its enigmatic narrative ensures this is a visually and conceptually arresting piece. Curator: True, the fusion between social practice and the actual making offers valuable insights into Johnston's practice. It also allows us to consider it today under similar issues of climate, labor, and artistic ingenuity.