OFFICIAL OPENING I SATURDAY the 19th of JULY, 6pm till 8pm
SHOWING DATES I 19th of JULY till the 30th of JULY, 2025
Frances Johnston
Frances Johnston is an emerging artist working primarily with acrylic and aerosol paint to create expressive, raw works that encapsulate the art-making process as a means to process and give shape to her inner world. Utilising a vibrant palette, with fluoro pink her signature colour, her works exude the emotional intensity of one reckoning with a
shifting inner landscape of rage and resistance, sensuality and fearlessness.
For Frances, the surface of the painting provides a two-dimensional space through which she can physically “work through” complex experiences like past traumas and grief. Through reiterative mark-making her chosen materials accumulate to encapsulate and document the process of this emotional labour. Through this intuitive process of
painting, both artist and artwork navigate toward a renewed and resolved state.
“I make art to process my inner world. My mind, my mental illness, trauma, passions, secrets, memories, longing, and grief. The final piece cumulates into a bright thread of hope, built out of darkness.”
When Frances is not creating in her studio at Newcastle Art Space she teaches art and drama classes to children. She loves to give them a welcoming space to encourage their creativity and foster their confidence. In 2020 she was selected as a mentee for the NAS Mentorship Program under the support of Jen Denzin. Frances has been a finalist in a number of art prizes with Blackstone Gallery, aswell as a finalist in the Hunter Emerging Art Prize.
“I create to tell stories, I create to connect, and I create so others believe they can too”.
Exhibition Statement
Solve Et Coagula — dissolve and coagulate — is a phrase drawn from alchemical tradition. It speaks of breaking down the old and reassembling the parts into something transformed. This exhibition is both a reckoning and a reclamation: an exploration of what it means to dismantle the expectations placed on us and reconstruct a life rooted in truth.
These works were created during a time of healing and upheaval: the grief of loss, the fog of confusion, and the relief of a late AUDHD diagnosis. Alongside this, a new relationship with identity and sexuality emerged. The pieces are raw, passionate, punk, and playful. They don’t ask for permission. They demand space. This is me showing up — whole, messy, alive — and choosing to be seen. Solve et Coagula is about shedding masks, breaking systems, and building new ways of being. It is the alchemy of self, forged through fire and feeling. This is what it looks like when you stop apologising and start becoming.