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Artworks
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Joan Semmel: A Balancing Act, Installation view, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown (2021)
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Joan Semmel: A Balancing Act, Installation view, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown (2021)
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Joan Semmel, Installation view, Morán Morán, Mexico City (2022). Photo: White Balance Mx
Joan Semmel
Leg Up, 2020Oil on canvas26 x 34 in (66 x 86.4 cm)
27 3/4 x 35 3/4 x 2 1/4 in framed (70.5 x 90.8 x 5.7 cm framed)JS435Further images
Since the 1970s, Joan Semmel has centered her practice around issues of the body and sexuality. More recently, this engagement with her nude form has led to representation of the...Since the 1970s, Joan Semmel has centered her practice around issues of the body and sexuality. More recently, this engagement with her nude form has led to representation of the aging female body. In Leg Up (2020), Semmel celebrates color and flesh while highlighting the aging process through the accurate portrayal of her own body. “We all have some difficulty in confronting our aging physical selves,” Semmel says, “so when you are painting yourself in that position, it really means that you have to say, ‘I’m doing this and I’m not going to make it pretty. I’m not going to hide it, disguise it, no face-lifts. It’s going to be really the way I see it.’ This is not a disease that’s happening. It’s the natural evolution of a person.”
Exhibitions
2022: Joan Semmel, Morán Morán, Mexico City
2021: A Balancing Act, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown, NY
