Ken Johnson at the NYS Writers Institute in 2011

Ken Johnson, notable art critic for the New York Times and UAlbany graduate, is the author of Are You Experienced?: How Psychedelic Consciousness Transformed Modern Art (2011). Lavishly illustrated, eloquently explained, unprecedented in its subject and pioneering in its research, the book explores the ways in which the drug culture of the 1960s brought about a fundamental shift in the meaning and purpose of art.

Johnson received a master's degree in studio art with a concentration in painting from UAlbany in 1978. His career as an art critic began with art reviews for the Times Union and other Capital Region publications. He has written art criticism regularly for the New York Times since 1997, where he reviews six to eight current exhibitions each week. A contributing editor for the illustrated monthly, Art in America, Johnson also serves as a faculty member in the writing of art criticism at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Johnson was recently honored by UAlbany at the annual "Reaching Higher, Achieving More" event.

• Category

  Entertainment