[5] During his travels he scavenged materials to use in his artwork, including protest buttons, a mousetrap, and broken dolls.
[5] Many of his works from this period comprise assemblages of found objects that Johnson painted black, which reference the Civil Rights Movement and racial violence in the United States.
[1] After moving back to the United States, Johnson began to work primarily in abstract painting and minimalist sculpture.
[2] The same year, Johnson participated in Frank Bowling's exhibition 5+1 at SUNY Stony Brook featuring work by black abstract artists.
[7][8][3] In the early 2010s, Johnson and Jaramillo left their longtime SoHo loft and relocated to Long Island, moving to a house in Hampton Bays.