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Artworks
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Joan Semmel, A Balancing Act, Installation view, Alexander Gray Associates, NY (2021)
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Joan Semmel, A Balancing Act, Installation view, Alexander Gray Associates, NY (2021)
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Joan Semmel, A Balancing Act, Installation view, Alexander Gray Associates, NY (2021)
Joan Semmel
Waiting, 2020Oil on canvas48 x 48 in (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
49 3/4 x 49 3/4 x 2 1/4 in framed (126.4 x 126.4 x 5.7 cm framed)JS445Further images
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Waiting (2020) belongs to a group of recent paintings wherein a single figure fills the compositional space. Using her body as subject, Semmel engages with the complexities of the aging...Waiting (2020) belongs to a group of recent paintings wherein a single figure fills the compositional space. Using her body as subject, Semmel engages with the complexities of the aging female body. "The constant exploitation of the image of the female body of a certain age and predetermined shape as that most coveted object of desire leaves us divided from our own selves," Semmel explains, "We have learned to desire that very same image and try to cajole and squeeze ourselves into its outlines." Here, the seated central figure sits, basking in the pale pink sunlight which floods the artist's studio—her torso twisting toward the window, gripping her left thigh for support. Dynamic use of color and variation of brushwork distinguishes space, depth, and texture as a nearly opaque scarlet red background intensely contrasts the freer strokes of cobalt blue and orange tones that animate and contour areas of flesh in a way that conjures a sense of touch itself.
Exhibitions
2021: A Balancing Act, Alexander Gray Associates, New YorkLiterature
Stamler, Hannah. “One Work: Joan Semmel’s Waiting.” Art in America, May 14, 2021.
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