Join us for FIFTY’s Artist Talk (2PM) and Closing Reception. This is your last opportunity to view his Solo Exhibition, “Me as the Machine,” presented by PLAYGROUND DETROIT.
“Me as the Machine” is about what it means to create by hand in a time when everything feels automated or mass-produced. I’ve been thinking a lot about tools — the ones we rely on, and the ones we become. In this show, I’m exploring what happens when I turn myself into the machine.
Installation view.Through embroidered works on raw canvas and painted surfaces, he teases out the tension between tool and touch, labor and vision. His signature approach — vivid color layered against stark black and white — creates visual rhythm and emotional contrast, blurring the line between textile and illustration.
“Me as the Machine” is a reflection on what it means to make art in a time of automation and anxiety — where machines are faster, and complacency feels dangerously close. In this show, Paul Johnson, aka “FIFTY,” positions himself as the machine: the motor, the muscle, the mind behind each stitch.
This exhibition asks viewers to slow down. To feel texture. To witness a process that resists reproduction — art that must be experienced in person to be fully understood.
“Using a hand-cranked embroidery machine, I made each piece by guiding the thread like a pen — drawing with stitches. Some works are just embroidery on raw canvas, and others combine paint and thread to play with depth, color, and contrast. A lot of the pieces separate color from black and white, like they’re having a conversation with each other.” – Paul Johnson
This show is textured, layered, and best experienced in person. It’s about slowing down and seeing how something gets made — one movement at a time.
Me as the Machine:
Paul Johnson Solo Exhibition
On view July 25 – August 23
Opening Reception & Viewing Hours
By Appointment Only*
