Park City, 2015, acrylic on wood panel, 48" x 60", by Clay Johnson

At the end of August I received a visit from San Francisco gallerist Kim Eagles-Smith. Kim enjoys a good road trip and a big sky so he drove out to Laramie to meet with me and see the new paintings.

While his gallery has long been my favorite in San Francisco, I had never met Kim personally. He’s a wonderful, fascinating guy, and we had a great time hanging out in the belly of the old west and talking about art. Those conversations were routinely punctuated by one of us saying “Exactly!”—a good indicator that we’re on the same aesthetic page.

Of course we spent some time at my studio so Kim could see the new work in person. The result of all this, I’m happy to say, is that I’m now represented by Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery. Elins Eagles-Smith has always been at the top of my list of galleries to visit when in San Francisco because they represent several of my favorite contemporary painters, including Johnnie Winona Ross, Kris Cox, Gary Komarin, and Ricardo Mazal (among others). I’m proud to be joining that list.