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Gallery

Apr 04 - Jun 30 2023 - 25 days left

JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present The Gaze, an exhibition of portraits by Martin Adalian. Referring to the concept of gaze within the confines of visual culture, the title and selected paintings explore how an audience perceives art’s depicted figures. Examining different strategies of the gaze, Adalian implicates the viewer by placing them in the position of both the observer and the observed. Mediating between the sense of invasion and invitation, viewers are coerced into different ways of seeing when they are confronted with direct gazes and personal spaces. Mining art history, popular culture, and contemporary aesthetics of mixed media and grunge, Martin Adalian creates intense, palpable portraits that shift the gaze with charged relationships between sitter, artist, and the onlooker. Portraying voyeuristic perspectives and mutual exchanges, his compositional subtlety chronicles the nuance of looking. This relationship between subjects is pushed further with the implied psychological power dynamic of being watched, as well as capturing femininity from a male perspective; however, the works remain ambiguous as to the spectator’s relationship with the subjects and the situational setting. Establishing narrative through the positioning of each figure’s eyes, Adalian relays emotion without speech. Creating mixed media paintings, Martin Adalian’s use of various elements create a multi-dimensional and multi-textual effect that adds a sense of motion and energy to his pieces with the application of thick swaths of paint and tar is concurrently spontaneous and strategic. Devising focal points and redirecting gaze to areas of elaborate detail and the physicality of his mark making process, Adalian further breaches the boundaries of the conventional modes of portraiture.  MARTIN ADALIAN (b. 1972, Yerevan, Armenia) graduated from the Terlemezian Art College of Yerevan, Armenia before moving to the United States in 1990. He started painting when he was three years old as a result of growing up amongst a dynasty of family artists including his father, uncle, and cousins. Adalian has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia.

Jul 01 - Sep 01 2023

JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present ALONG COMES MARY, an exhibition of new works by Mary Finlayson. A celebration of color, pattern, and form, Finlayson’s work has a fresh and unique aesthetic through her use of gouache and vinyl emulsion. Navigating themes of home, memory, and self, her interest in painting interior spaces and still lifes portray how environments reveal identity. Considering interiors as portraits that contain their own narratives, her compositions explore the stories that each space tells about the people who inhabit them. Flattening the perspective of each scene, her still lifes provide a voyeuristic glimpse in to each curated space while capsulizing the intimacy of each scene. Energetic lines evoke movement that helps enliven the otherwise stagnant settings and floral arrangements while reduced, simplified forms reveal a complexly structured, distinctive style. In homage to the iconic works of David Hockney, Henri Matisse, and Stuart Davis, Finlayson borrows similar bright color palettes, repetitive patterns and simplified forms. Creating tightly constructed compositions unique to her own style, she combines her backgrounds in printmaking and painting to layer and contrast colors. The creative process includes immense attention to detail and meticulous planning around the composition as she considers personal attachments and importance of objects, the perspective of each scene, and the captured feeling of a space over accurate depiction. Creating environments that are partly real and partly imagined, Finlayson’s ability to craft a story by way of her art is enigmatic.

Sep 07 - Dec 31 2023

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents: THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN: Featuring BILLY SCHENCK + GREG MILLER Fall/Winter 2023 Opening Reception: Thursday, September 7th, 2023 JoAnne Artman Gallery 511 A West 22nd St | New York, NY 10011 Contact: JoAnne Artman Telephone: 949-510-5481 | E-mail: joanneartman@aol.com Website: www.joanneartmangallery.com THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN Guess who just got back today? Them wild-eyed boys that had been away Haven't changed, had much to say But man, I still think them cats are crazy JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present The Boys Are Back in Town, an exhibition of new works by Billy Schenck and Greg Miller. The exhibition serves as an investigative tale told by wanderers, as they roam country roads to discover both self and national identity. Returning to JoAnne Artman Gallery’s New York space in style, the boys are back in town to present their visions of America. Schenck and Miller hone imagery that is specific to each of their practices - the Western genre and the Golden Age of advertising respectively. Known for cheekily playful compositions, common motifs across both bodies of works include cowboys, femme fatales, and heroic vigilantes. Sourcing imagery from personal references, historical print, and Spaghetti Western films, each tie their compositional narratives to past eras. Exploring similar subject matter, the artists diverge into distinct styles- Schenck with his trademark Pop Western fusion, and Miller, combining the revered rebellion of the Wild West with his love for mixed media and California surf culture. Through skillful integration of recognizable and sentimental images, Schenck and Miller capture a mirror of the real world through the merging of collective memory and pop phenomena. Resonating visually and linguistically, their works are dynamic narrative forces that lay bare the dualities of perception. Integrating text, Schenck and Miller use language to add allegorical depth and social commentary. Utilizing the front, sides, and backs of his works, Greg Miller’s works are pieces of poetry. Examining the underlying foundations of imagery and text associated with American pop and consumerism, Miller combines collaged text with emblazed words across his compositions, reminiscent of magazine covers. Cutting words and phrases from ads and books, the meticulous placement reveals a deeper, hidden meaning. In a graphic, comic book style, Schenck uses speech bubbles and dialogues to converse with his viewers. Satirically examining the tropes, stereotypes, and machismo associated with the Old West, his comical and exaggerated text coyly undermine Western clichés, unexpectedly turning them on their head. Equal parts statement and observation, Schenck and Miller present wry, yet idealized, versions of a vintage past that is an amalgamation of personal nostalgia, folklore, and mythology. Schenck and Miller’s work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you're sure to find the right artistic expression.