The Weltzheimer/Johnson House at Oberlin College is a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian House that sits on a lot several blocks from campus. Designed in 1947 and completed in 1949, it is the first Usonian house in Ohio and one of the few in the nation open to the public. The Weltzheimer/Johnson House stands as another expression of Wright’s answer to the demand for beautiful and affordable middle-class homes in the post-WWII America. Pairing innovation with basic owner-builder construction materials and techniques, the concepts of organic architecture evolved into these Usonian characteristics: a flowing floor plan with distinct public and private wings; concrete, grid-patterned, slab floor with radiant heat; flat roof and cantilevered carport; masonry fireplace mass; board and batten walls with simple built-in furniture; and tall glass walls and doors opening to the landscape.
Juan Araujo has created a site-specific installation for the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Weltzheimer/Johnson House that mines its multi-layered history and highlights features of its impeccably balanced mid-century design, which the artist finds imbued with a “sense of tranquility.” Born in Venezuela and now based in Portugal, Araujo has long been interested in modernist architecture and how it circulates in reproduction, approaching a classical painting practice through a conceptual framework. His installation, Redwood includes a video and cycle of paintings for the interior and exterior of the house.
Redwood is presented with support from the Eric and Jane Nord Family Fund and the Nord Family Foundation.