Jennifer Joseph

6th international biennale of non objective art

Que des femmes/Only women

Melbourne virtual satellite

Hosted by Art Thoughts AU at Yarra Bend Gallery

September 22 - 19 November

Artist portrait, photograph Michael Meneghetti.

When asked what my painting is about I like to reply... it's not about anything. It just is. The meaning in my art is to be found in the physicality of the materials used and the marks made. It's not a description of anything. The 'meaning', as in life, is within itself.

My concern has always been with the transitory nature of reality, the fragility of the path of life and death. In painting, works on paper and collage I explore impermanence in the process of making. And often reveal this process in the finished work. All my art is executed at great speed following hours of quiet, still contemplation in the studio. I find long periods of contemplation necessary to be in a totally focused state of mind. I've always experienced art-making as becoming part of the painting, of 'painting from the inside.' Towards this end, to enable and nourish my art practice I live nocturnally.

Why would we say goodbye, 2017, 100 x 164cm (irregular).
 (Jennifer Joseph is represented by Niagara Galleries, Melbourne), photograph Andrew Curtis.

Jennifer Joseph

For the next 300 years
To June 29

Niagara Galleries
245 Punt Road
Melbourne 

Are You Lonesome Tonight? 2016, mixed media, 137 x 305 cm polyptych.

Untitled, c. 1989-92, acrylic, gesso and mixed media on cotton duck, 71 x 61 cm

For the next 300 years, 2017, mixed media, 146 x 183 cm.

Moody Blues 8, 2019, mixed media, 29 x 25.5 cm.

'Jenifer Joseph is motivated by an overwhelming need to make art and the experience of doing so is as important as the self-expression the finished work allows. For her it is a distinctly personal undertaking and one that doesn't require validation form external sources, but rather the knowledge that it worked and the satisfaction and creative liberation that comes with it. Joseph is not driven to exhibit her art publicly, but on the occasions she does, we are always presented with a body of work that is both beautiful and absolutely authentic.' Excerpt Kirsty Grant, 'The Art of Jennifer Joseph', catalogue essay, Jennifer Joseph: for the next 300 years.

Jennifer Joseph

New in the stockroom
Niagara Galleries
Melbourne
Until March 3

Table no. 11, 2016, acrylic and gesso on jute, 80 x 69 cm. 

Untitled, 2005-06, acrylic on canvas, 107 x 76.5 cm.

Install shot of work by Jennifer Joseph.

Currently on view at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne is a solo exhibition by Rubaba Haider 'A Story of thread and thrum' and on the first level 'New to the stockroom' featuring work by Jennifer Joseph, Angela Brennan and Gunter Christmann. It is the work of Jennifer Joseph which I specifically came to see as her paintings are not frequently on display in Melbourne.

It’s possible to look at a work of art and receive an experience without knowing the artist’s intent. It happens with archaeological items whose meaning and maker are unknown. The work transcends its origin. Questioning and wonder are brought into play while appreciating the works' physical values. I wonder why insistence is commonly placed on knowing the complete impetus of a contemporary artist, particularly one following on from modernism when most modernist abstractionists referenced pre-Renaissance art (for reasons of expression beyond figuration).

Joseph's work is experiential. The artist herself states the process is as important to her as the outcome. This is not to diminish the work rather to explain that work comes from the act of painting. It is not preconceived. Her work has a 'deep' aesthetic. Joseph paints at night preferring the quiet and still meditational ambiance; 'the nocturne'. The work is often somber in colouring. There is nothing superfluous. One can enter the work knowing there is no 'glam bag', it's a trusted place. In this world now, individual aesthetic expression seems enough.