Artist of the Week (11/14/05)

The original idea with this column was to introduce artists who are perhaps not well known, but I've strayed from that objective a bit here and there (I'm like that...I resent strict guidelines). Moving forward, just so you know, I will be adding to the mix the artists who have exhibitions at our gallery once we re-open (looks like January now), because, well, I have to edit out so much of what I'd like to say about them from the press releases, and this seems a good place to share those thoughts. Besides, it's my blog... leave me alone...you want a piece of me??? er, uh... [note to self: caffienate...THEN write].

But back to why I mention the column's original goal: Brooklyn-born Joyce Pensato is one of the most underappreciated artists I can think of, which isn't to say she's unknown, just that she deserves to be a household name in my opinion. She's a genius in my book, and although she's represented by the prestigious Galerie Anne de Villepoix in Paris, why she's not represented by one of the blue chip galleries here in New York baffles me.* Oh she's exhibited consistently (the image above shows Joyce before one of her works at a recent exhibition at Parker's Box in Williamsburg), and she's had her share of recognition (having received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a NY Foundation for the Arts Grant, and a grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation), but I honestly can't fathom why so many of the other artists given retrospectives at the major museums got theirs before Joyce. If forced to speculate, I'd say perhaps she's not precious enough for some folks, but letting that keep them at arm's length is totally their loss. Here's a image from 1999:


Joyce Pensato, untitled Mickey, 1999, charcoal on paper, 16.5 x 11.5 inches. Photo courtesy Pierogi Gallery. Image from wburg.com website.

The first time I encountered Joyce's work was at the exhibition where artists moved their studios and worked in Exit Art's old space on Broadway...a sort of "watch the artist in their natural habitat" experience. There were 10 or so artists in that exhibition, if I recall correctly, but Joyce's section was far and away the most messy. Every surface of every object was seemingly smeared with soot, including countless stuffed toys of cartoon characters, the primary subject matter of Joyce's work. It was difficult to imagine any art object emerging from that disaster zone, but when I saw the furiously worked over pieces she was making, I fell instantly head-over-heels in love. Here was passion and energy and nostalgia and humor roaring with unbridled joi de vivre. As an Art in America review of her 2003 exhibition at Elga Wimmer gallery in New York put it: her works "have enough physical and psychic energy to make actual animation look like it's standing still."

Joyce studied at New York's Studio School, where according to an article about her work by artist Rachel Youens,

[A] stream of well established visiting artists who taught, critiqued, and told stories, study was rigorous and centered around many of many of Giacometti's ideas in particular, adapting his challenge to infuse pictures with the emotive qualities of things and reach beyond habitual ways of seeing. Students practiced measuring space and forms and developing an awareness of the effects of their peripheral vision, with an approach that doing and undoing would lead to a greater vision of nature. Years later, Pensato's processes and methods remain tied to this tradition of looking at and abstracting from nature.

Joyce Pensato, The Swimmer, 2004, Charcoal on paper, 40" x 50" (image from Studio School website).

One of my favorite projects that Joyce exhibited recently was the "Wigged and Wild" window installation at Parker's Box, featuring snapshots of Brooklyn and New York art types or just unsuspecting passersby wearing a platinum blonde wig she carried around and convinced them to wear. How animated this simple "disguise" made most people was truly amazing. It was as if Joyce were able to inject some of her energy into these usually cooler-than-thou folks via the wig. I was also one of Joyce's subjects for this and I barely recognized myself in the photo. I don't have my photo to share unfortunately, but here's another one from the series:


Joyce Pensato, untitled, photograph, 2003, (from Parker's Box website)

For more on Joyce, be sure and see these posts by James Wagner and Barry Hoggard. James included a close up of a piece Joyce recently exhibited at Sarah Bowen gallery that illustrates better than anything I could say how much raw energy goes into each of her works.


(image from James Wagner's blog)

And here are a few installation shots of Joyce's show there in 2003 to give you a better sense of her exquisitely grimey aesthetic:


Joyce Pensato, From the Hood and Other Places, 2002, mixed media 4 feet x 8 feet

Joyce Pensato, Donald as a Crossdresser, 1999, charcoal and pastel on paper
10 feet x 14 feet