JOAN BARBER: EXHIBITING WOMEN
September 16 - October 23, 2010
September 16 - October 23, 2010
"Girl on Pedestal" 2005, Oil on Linen, 50 x 40 inches
Press Release:
The Flomenhaft Gallery is proud to show the newest works of Joan Barber. “Exhibiting” is the artists’ term, and she likes using it in a way that can be interpreted as showing women as well as women revealing the many aspects of themselves. Barber feels that the title gives the paintings a certain “stature” and provides an appropriate umbrella for the disparate nature of the women. Examples are: the “Girl in the Yellow Room,” exotic and fun, “Streak” child-like and the height of innocence, funky as in “White Noise,” or the sophisticated “Weight of Fire.” The paintings depict figures derived from Barber’s imagination leaving much to the viewer’s invention. That includes facial language which is as important to the artist as body language. She paints quickly, keeping her brush moving over everything to sustain her access to each of the inner worlds, all of which comprise Joan’s own inner world. She wants to prevent subconscious motives from escaping, from dilution by premature reflection. And she keeps the brush moving, over everything, running, cutting, twisting, performing the saucy, edgy dance-in-place that is the physical act of her art.
She says, "My interest is in the visual impact of women from inside to out. Exalted, bewildered, grave, expectant, agitated, sanguine, chary, playful, contrary, content, blithe, baleful, probing, eluding, defiant, triumphant, quick, slow, up, down, in, out - I want to paint all of it. Attire and adornment are optional. Attitude and setting - whatever, wherever. Past/present - time is not relevant. Only the look from the mind's eye truly reveals."
Barber lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She was born in Oregon in 1941, and graduated from the Museum Art School, Portland, Oregon in 1963, where she received full scholarship. She has studied with Louie Bunce, Michael Russo, George Johanson. She has exhibited nationally, and her commissions include two major commissions for The Carnival Cruise Lines. The first was nine huge murals that adorned the central staircase landings of the 2974-passenger superliner “Freedom,” that debuted March 5, 2007, portraying recreational aspects of the 1940s post-war American culture, reflecting optimism and hope for the future of that era. Barber’s murals were so successful, she was asked to create ten murals again for the aft stairwell of the 2008 Splendor ship, the largest fun-ship ever constructed to that date.
Among the public collections that have Barber’s work: Portland Art Museum, OR; Hancock Shaker Museum, Pittsfield, MA; JMW Consultants Inc., Stanford, CT; Iredale Mineral Cosmetics Ltd., Gt. Barrington, MA; Peabody & Arnold LLP, Boston, MA; Enid Zuckerman, Canyon Ranch, Lenox, MA and Tucson, AZ; Carol Gilligan, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, as well as in numerous private collections around the world.
The Flomenhaft Gallery is proud to show the newest works of Joan Barber. “Exhibiting” is the artists’ term, and she likes using it in a way that can be interpreted as showing women as well as women revealing the many aspects of themselves. Barber feels that the title gives the paintings a certain “stature” and provides an appropriate umbrella for the disparate nature of the women. Examples are: the “Girl in the Yellow Room,” exotic and fun, “Streak” child-like and the height of innocence, funky as in “White Noise,” or the sophisticated “Weight of Fire.” The paintings depict figures derived from Barber’s imagination leaving much to the viewer’s invention. That includes facial language which is as important to the artist as body language. She paints quickly, keeping her brush moving over everything to sustain her access to each of the inner worlds, all of which comprise Joan’s own inner world. She wants to prevent subconscious motives from escaping, from dilution by premature reflection. And she keeps the brush moving, over everything, running, cutting, twisting, performing the saucy, edgy dance-in-place that is the physical act of her art.
She says, "My interest is in the visual impact of women from inside to out. Exalted, bewildered, grave, expectant, agitated, sanguine, chary, playful, contrary, content, blithe, baleful, probing, eluding, defiant, triumphant, quick, slow, up, down, in, out - I want to paint all of it. Attire and adornment are optional. Attitude and setting - whatever, wherever. Past/present - time is not relevant. Only the look from the mind's eye truly reveals."
Barber lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She was born in Oregon in 1941, and graduated from the Museum Art School, Portland, Oregon in 1963, where she received full scholarship. She has studied with Louie Bunce, Michael Russo, George Johanson. She has exhibited nationally, and her commissions include two major commissions for The Carnival Cruise Lines. The first was nine huge murals that adorned the central staircase landings of the 2974-passenger superliner “Freedom,” that debuted March 5, 2007, portraying recreational aspects of the 1940s post-war American culture, reflecting optimism and hope for the future of that era. Barber’s murals were so successful, she was asked to create ten murals again for the aft stairwell of the 2008 Splendor ship, the largest fun-ship ever constructed to that date.
Among the public collections that have Barber’s work: Portland Art Museum, OR; Hancock Shaker Museum, Pittsfield, MA; JMW Consultants Inc., Stanford, CT; Iredale Mineral Cosmetics Ltd., Gt. Barrington, MA; Peabody & Arnold LLP, Boston, MA; Enid Zuckerman, Canyon Ranch, Lenox, MA and Tucson, AZ; Carol Gilligan, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, as well as in numerous private collections around the world.