Episode 24: Michael P. Johnson’s - MPJstudio
Michael P. Johnson’s wanderlust, thirsty curiosity, as he will tell us, to explore and experience a sort of nomadic life never in one place, has allowed him to deepen friendships with exceptional, extremely stimulating men, that we could define visionary.
Doing so, he had the chance to assimilate and share their openness and futuristic way of thinking. Among these exceptional encounter there will be the one with Bruce Goff, an eccentric but extremely intelligent man, who cultivated many different forms of passions from art to music, receiving the title of chairman in the School of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, despite being self-taught. The encounter over the years turned into a long term friendship.
A long time written correspondence will imprint the relation with another famous man of the desert, Paolo Soleri, who at that time was working on his Arcosanti. Michael in several occasions will visit the ideal city under construction, sharing Paolo’s ideas against the insane, ruinous frenzy for the automobile and growing consumerism. Their passionate conversations focus on the aspiration towards an architecture more ecologically and environmentally respectful. Michael, as Aris Georges states, with an absolutely true and objective praise, is one of the few “artists who have never drawn a line between their life and work”. He has amply demonstrated his commitment both in architecture and in life, actively dealing with social and political struggles, marching alongside Martin Luther King, advocating for woman rights, for Native Americans, experiencing the attempts against oppression by the revolutionary movement, Black Panthers.
Doing so, he had the chance to assimilate and share their openness and futuristic way of thinking. Among these exceptional encounter there will be the one with Bruce Goff, an eccentric but extremely intelligent man, who cultivated many different forms of passions from art to music, receiving the title of chairman in the School of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, despite being self-taught. The encounter over the years turned into a long term friendship.
A long time written correspondence will imprint the relation with another famous man of the desert, Paolo Soleri, who at that time was working on his Arcosanti. Michael in several occasions will visit the ideal city under construction, sharing Paolo’s ideas against the insane, ruinous frenzy for the automobile and growing consumerism. Their passionate conversations focus on the aspiration towards an architecture more ecologically and environmentally respectful. Michael, as Aris Georges states, with an absolutely true and objective praise, is one of the few “artists who have never drawn a line between their life and work”. He has amply demonstrated his commitment both in architecture and in life, actively dealing with social and political struggles, marching alongside Martin Luther King, advocating for woman rights, for Native Americans, experiencing the attempts against oppression by the revolutionary movement, Black Panthers.
