SPOTLIGHT: Channeling Goddess Energy: Johnna Geick Paints the Female Gaze
☆ BY Kimberly Kapela☆
JOHNNA GEICK IS A SELF-TAUGHT FREELANCE VISUAL ARTIST—who deconstructs the male gaze and harmful sexual perspectives projected onto women in the art realm. She blends the beauty of female nudes with the natural environment by incorporating goddesses and feminine motifs such as fruits and flowers. The artist’s vibrancy is best portrayed through her painting starfishes on nipples, depicting the female body as a tree that gives life and flowers growing out of eyelashes. Geick’s artworks are evocative, psychedelic depictions of nude goddesses convey their full bodily autonomy and liberation from contemporary pornographic imagery. The artist reclaims the female gaze through her depictions of mystical goddesses through heavy research of Greek mythology and feminine symbols. Her works critique the male gaze and censorship in the modern art realm as they are sometimes adulterated to pornography.
A self-described “nature baby” at heart and where she feels her most authentic self is when she is in tune with the environment around her. The artist's deepest exposures to nature serves as a source of inspiration for the natural elements depicted in her work through juicy, ripe pomegranates, lush forests and infinite flowing waters. Themes of human consciousness and spirituality flow naturally through Geick’s artwork as she teaches yoga and practices meditation. Through her love of spirituality, she became aligned with the goddesses she depicts in her work and began to explore her concept of divine femininity. Geick’s goddesses are non-traditional as they transcend racial ambiguity by not depicting conventional flesh tones to stay true to the essence of the feminine energy. Her goddesses are vibrant shades of indigo, pink and red, all which represent auras and various energies rather than skin tones so viewers of all expressions can connect to the artwork. She works with various gender expressions and races that stays true to celebrating life cultural experiences and the universal concept of different goddesses throughout religious history. Geick’s work touches on being in tune with an inner goddess. Naturally, goddesses are aligned with many environmental themes through the nourishment of plants and animals to promote growth. Geick explores the themes of nature that are constantly growing and how it ties to the feminine being the ultimate feminine healer.
“The central aspect to my work would be what I see as this inextricable link between the feminine and nature,” Geick says. “So many elements and qualities of nature are reflected in the feminine like the adaptability to the environment, grace and fluidity at the most basic level.” The divine feminine represents spiritual wisdom and being able to attract and manifest desires into reality. The divine feminine is depicted as light, pure and forgiving. As there are different sides to nature, there are many sides to the feminine. Balance in energies plays a huge role in the creation and manifestation of the divine feminine. Dark femininity is the other half of the divine. This energy focuses on the shadow aspect that brings out the fiery, sensual and transformational parts of womanhood. The dark feminine asserts boundaries, is unapologetic and is tied with dominance. “The dark feminine is beautiful, but a huge element of the feminine is this seductive power and an alluring aspect,” Geick says. “To me, fruit is nature’s most beautiful offering of abundance and like who are we to deserve fruit? It’s so juicy, delectable and sweet. It’s nature’s candy, but better.” One of the many natural elements depicted in the artist’s work is fruits and how it sensually ties to the dark feminine in terms of its sultry energy and seductiveness. Fruit is visually tied with vulvic and vaginal shapes and patterns. Geick cites papaya, cantaloupe, pomegranate and grapefruit for sources of inspiration for her more erotic paintings that have empowered her sexuality.
“These are nature’s little hints at the feminine and the beauty of it,” Geick says. “I do think there’s a sexual quality and sexual tie to fruit being this juicy and ripe, just the ultimate gift that so many long for to indulge in, including our own female pleasure and finding that for ourselves.” Sensuality is best captured in the artist’s work “Earth Angel’s Offering” that acts as a self portraiture for her own dark femininity and love of fruits. Geick’s skin is interlaced with soft hues of dark blue, purple and pink while her hair glows a glimmering blue. She portrayed herself as nude with flowers covering her nipples while she is cutting fruits and indulging in earth’s natural sweetness.
One of the artist’s personal favorite paintings of all time is entitled “The Maenads” which is heavily inspired by Greek mythology. The work is immersed in nude women running wildly in nature as a celebration. They are depicted playing with snakes and leopards while drinking wine. The maenads are female worshippers of the cult of Dionysus and their lore is trekking in the night and running wild and naked and playing music and dancing. Dionysus is referred to as the god of wine and associated with festivity and pleasure. Their story is demonized, but to Geick, these women were in community and celebrating and breaking free from societal expectations. “The root of their name connects to maniac and madness and I did a lot of deep diving into that mythology for preparation for this piece,” Geick says. “In every story the maenad is demonized because they’re ripping off people’s heads and it’s a fear-based story. There were so many elements of realizing these are just women in community in celebration, breaking free from their societal expectations and worshiping together.”
“Treasure of the Sea” depicts a sea setting that is immersed in wildlife, natural rock formations and mermaids. The star of the show is a purple and green siren goddess that is sitting inside a pink fluorescent shell and is clutching a dazzling pearl. She is in a relaxed state with jellyfish, seahorses and fish swimming around her. A bright white light shines down on her from above sea and gives life to the creature. This is another example of Geick’s abstract concept of the feminine transcending beyond a human form and bringing women closer to nature. “I love mermaids and I am so inspired by their mythology and I really wanted to make her my own sea goddess creature,” Geick says. “My concept with her is that she’s this epicenter of life in the ocean. Her femininity is inspiring and nourishing the life around her. She is this alluring force for this life to thrive around her. She is holding the pearl that represents the treasure that is sought after. Geick’s goddesses are all portrayed in relaxed and peaceful states, they are never passive and always engaged, alive and present. Her work ties into the reclamation of the female gaze of not possessing any voyeuristic qualities where the woman is lounging around helpless or is an object of pleasure for men. Her goddesses are engaged and powerful. They know their power and are relaxed into a divine feminine state.
“I'm really glad to see that we are seeing less censorship and more openness to the depiction of the nude female,” Geick says.
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