Artist Bio
Buena Johnson is a Los Angeles-based visual artist and art instructor. Most recently, Buena’s work became a part of the permanent collection of the Laguna Art Museum. She has exhibited at the Band of Vices Art Gallery and was a featured artist with the Los Angeles Lakers. Buena’s latest solo exhibitions include TAG Gallery, in 2021, and The Los Angeles Art Association’s GALLERY 825 in 2023. She was also an Artist In Residence in South LA and taught art at UCLA for 8 years. Buena is a graduate of Pratt Institute of Art in NY.
Buena’s art is deeply influenced by the African American experience and reframing black history through positivity and truth. In prior years her work portrayed a visual history of jazz, blues, and gospel music legends. She also produced an inspired Angel and biblical series influenced by her upbringing as a (PK) Preacher’s Kid. Religious and Christian iconography appears often in Buena’s drawings and paintings. Also, her art echoes visual artists such as Kara Walker and Charles White.
She has received widespread recognition for her realism style of fine art. She primarily uses Pencil to create portraits and highly detailed figurative art, drawn from her own photographed sources and imagination.
Buena has worked as a teaching artist for many Southern California libraries and community centers. She had the privilege of instructing unhoused Veterans through UCLA and the Veteran’s Association. Her artworks were shown at the Brand Library and Art Center, the Los Angeles Art Association, Spectrum-RedDot Miami, ArtShareLA, and a solo exhibition at the Museum of African American Art. Also, Buena’s work has been showcased in the History Collection at the Smithsonian, collected by the Getty Collection, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) LA, and the Laguna Art Museum. Her work has been used by set designers in major studio films and on network television.
Buena’s work exists in the private collections of notables and celebrities such as Arianna Huffington, Halle Berry, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Sinatra, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Latifah, The Los Angeles Dodgers and United Airlines. She has received many prestigious awards.