Marley Johnson’s practice expands the boundaries of contemporary painting by treating the medium as a site of excavation, accumulation, and material depth. Utilizing found objects and hand-sewn canvases as primary supports, Johnson constructs works that operate between painting and assemblage. His paintings engage systems of waste, contamination, and disposability, interrogating the social values attached to “dirty work” and discarded material. Through an additive process of layering, abrasion, and reduction, multiple temporalities are allowed to coexist within the surface. The resulting works emphasize tactility, compression, and physical presence, grounding viewers in the material reality of the painted object.

Johnson holds an MFA from Concordia University (2021) and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, with additional studies at Cooper Union in New York. Their work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada.