Clay Johnson was born and raised in Durham, NC, where he studied art and art history at Duke University, receiving a B.A. degree in 1985.
He then worked for several years as assistant to painter Robert Natkin in Connecticut and New York City. In 1998 he began exhibiting paintings from his first series of mature work, which was loosely grid-based, and was inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee, such as Ancient Sound. Since then Johnson’s work has been exhibited widely at galleries across the country. Johnson currently lives and works in Laramie, Wyoming.