© Orlando Johnson 2010

1985-86: Completes his earliest recorded portrait; receives first commission following his work selling out in the Childrens’ section of the North Haven Art Association’s annual exhibition.

1980: Orlando Benedict Johnson is born in Cambridge, England, on 19 January, the son of Faith and Gordon Johnson and the youngest of three children (Timothy, Nathaniel and Orlando). 

He spends the first summer of his life in Maine, a place which is to prove hugely influential on his work.

1994-95: Completes and exhibits Raniganj (right) which sells for a then-record price of $30; and a year later Johnson completes and exhibits Polar Bear.  He considers both pieces and their respective sales as marking the transition of his work from that of a child to that of a ‘more serious artist’.