 Although
the artist’s previous work was quite
different in technique and appearance, Joseph's concerns with narrative, public
space, installation and the exploration
of new materials and media have been present
in her work throughout.During the sixties, Joseph produced a variety of protest posters and prints, and preceded Andy Warhol’s use of Chairman Mao’s image with lipstick paintings of China’s leader. Joseph was also greatly influenced by the paintings of Larry Rivers, Roy Lichtenstein’s sculptures, the Pop movement, and the California Finish Fetish movement. However, it was her fascination with Cezanne’s use of overlapping planes to create depth while emphasizing the frontality of the picture plane that led her to experiment with modern materials.  Beginning
in the late sixties, and continuing for twenty years, Joseph’s
primary medium was airbrushed lacquers and urethanes on two- and three-dimensional
aluminum panels. The works were often installed as site-specific pieces
that would respond to the light in a room or the passage of the sun,
and attempted to create multiple visual dimensions through the layering
of colors and transparencies.Joseph pioneered the use of the hand-held spray gun to create complex, geometric illusionary spaces in vaneers of the latest, technologically-advanced materials. Because the materials used were highly resistant to wind, heat, sun and water (some were UV-resistant and been developed for use on US spacecraft), Joseph’s painting/sculptures were well-suited for outdoor environments. The durability of materials also complemented her interest in ‘Public Art’.  Her
work became deeply committed to integrating
the fine arts with architecture in materials
that the general public could relate to
and understand. Her public commissions from
this period include the doors of the Hungarian
Embassy in Washington DC, a GSA commission
for a lobby of the San Jose Federal Courthouse,
as well as several “Percent for Art”
initiatives. In
the late 80's, unhappy with the lack of personal content in her sculptures,
and also concerned with the toxic nature of the products she used,
Joseph abandoned the ‘permanence' of the lacquer paintings
and began exploring a wide variety of media and narrative issues.
She began exhibiting again in the latter part of the 90's with a series
of shows about women and their roles in society. One exhibition from
that time, The Calendar Girl Series,
featured women’s images typically found in girlie calendars
painted onto shooting targets. The paintings were laminated and installed
hanging from bullets protruding from the wall. Joseph explains
the images reference the time in her life when she stepped into a
man's world to learn spray techniques from auto body shops—where
women were usually seen only as customers or as ‘decoration’
on the walls.Today the artist does not see her work as that far removed from earlier periods. She is still experimenting in media and asking her viewers to engage with the process of their ‘seeing’. With an interactive environment like The Sideshow of the Absurd, she continues her interest in making provocative work the general public can find accessible but challenging. Click here to view resumé. |
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