Leon Johnson is an artist and chef based in Newburgh, NY. He works collaboratively in multiple mediums, in the collective conjuring of sacral enclaves.
He started the creative space LODGER in 2018, hosting dinners, private events, and operating as an innovative classroom, kitchen lab, and new model for community engagement. LODGER was named Best of the Hudson Valley for Communal Dining (Hudson Valley Magazine, 2021).
Johnson’s studio work is focused on works on paper and the potential for the form of the book. He designs and produces intermedia performances including dinner events, short films, and installations. His work has been performed and exhibited internationally. He is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for Painting, Fellowships from Yaddo and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. He won the Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Williams Fellowship for Distinguished Interdisciplinary Teaching at the University of Oregon, and was the 2014 Martha Daniel Newell Distinguished Scholar at Georgia College.
Recent publishing through LODGER Press includes a pamphlet edition, Unknown Soldier, by Lucy Sante (Fall 2018), and a forthcoming monograph, Lost Wit: Recovering The Life and Work of Mathew Roydon, by Charles Nicholl.