In his first solo show at McClain Gallery, New York-based artist Bo
Joseph presents a group of recent work ranging from large scale tonal
drawings to bold hi-contrast paintings. Out of the dense organic
linearity of Joseph's drawings, rise ambitious abstractions and a
sophisticated body of work that deftly straddles the line between the
evocative and cryptic. Bo Joseph will be in town for an artist
reception, open to the public, on May 12, 2-4 PM. The exhibition will
be on view May 12-June 23, 2012.
Joseph works from a myriad of
printed sources from auction catalogues to books- seeking out objects,
such as masks or ceremonial items from various cultures into shapes and
abstractions that still retain charge outside their original contexts.
The symbols of people, places and ideas that no longer exist, and in
which societies invest meaning-whether carved ancestor figures in an
extinct African culture, or paving stones set in streets across Berlin
where the Wall once stood-provide the strongest visual references for
Joseph. By transcribing and relocating the silhouettes of such
reproductions outside of their found context, and placing them within a
richly layered field of his own gestural mark-making, Joseph's abstract
compositions are inherently interested in archetypes and cultural
appropriation, and finding commonalities in disparate cultures.
Beyond
the metaphorical renderings, each work also has a story to tell about
how they were made. Whether working on a fragmentary used drop cloth or
on joined sheets of paper, Joseph exploits the painting support like yet
another intrinsically charged found object. Made with a combination of
acrylic pens and paint, tempera and oil pastel and using deconstructive
techniques like sanding, masking and rinsing, he challenges the very
nature and transience of both material and subject: testing each to see
what content and substance will stick. Employing a working method that
has been called "uncollage": he often uses oil pastel as a resist and
washes the paper with water-based acrylic to create layers of negative
space. With his source material as stencils, he actually creates the
negative white space on his larger paintings through layers of white
paint. In smaller works on paper, brightly colored birds unfold like
paper dolls to play against a chalky canvas, while in large scale
drawings that measure up to 5 x 7 feet, hints of an Empire bubble to the
surface: from a tribal mask and primitive tools, to spoils of war and
lost civilizations, Joseph weaves relics of history and incongruent
traditions together with aplomb.
About Bo Joseph:
Born
in California in 1969, Joseph lives and works in New York City. He
studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and has been showing his
work since the early 1990s. Joseph has received awards and honors such
as the Basil H. Alkazzi Award, and fellowships in painting from
Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the Rhode Island State Council on
the Arts. He has been a visiting artist/lecturer at the University of
Massachusetts in Dartmouth, MA and the Rhode Island School of Design
where he has also taught drawing.
His work can be found in
museums nationally and abroad including Museum of Fine Arts, Houston;
the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; and Guilin Art
Museum, China.