JOAN VENNUM O T H E R
A T M O S P H E R E S
JOAN VENNUM O T H E R
A T M O S P H E R E S
SU N DARAM TAGOR E MADISON AVE N U E SE PTE M B E R 20 – OCTOB E R 20, 2018
GALLERY MISSION Established in 2000, Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. We focus on developing exhibitions and hosting not-for-profit events that encourage spiritual, social and aesthetic dialogues. In a world where communication is instant and cultures are colliding and melding as never before, our goal is to provide venues for art that transcend boundaries of all sorts. With alliances across the globe, our interest in cross-cultural exchange extends beyond the visual arts into many other disciplines, including poetry, literature, performance art, film and music.
OTHER ATMOSPHERES We are pleased to present new and recent work by American artist Joan Vennum, best known for her lush, atmospheric paintings depicting the illusion of limitless space, as it appears both in her imagination and the natural world. The New York-based artist presents a series of oil-on-canvas paintings that are at once abstract and figurative, comprising luminous gradated color fields shaped by layers of meditative, rhythmic brushstrokes. With these new works, Vennum captures nature’s mutable atmospheric conditions, while refining her subject matter to its simplest form. Much of Vennum’s work is inspired by her travels and her observations of daily life, such as the sun setting on the river Ganges in India or the impact of weather on Sicily’s coastal landscape, the elements on the horizon and the spectacle of the sea. The dynamism of these elements and the vastness of space are made present in Vennum’s images through a combination of basic forms and intense surface detail.
Joan Vennum’s New York studio, 2018 7
Vennum’s brushwork varies from open and soft, as with Four Through Time, where sky blue seamlessly shifts into bright coral, to stronger, more delineated strokes, as in the Wanderings series, which vibrate with barely contained energy. Vennum’s rich palette spans nature’s full color spectrum, from vibrant vermillion and saffron yellow, to deep sea blues and earthy burgundies. Many of the works have at least one horizon line or hidden circle, though they don’t always reveal themselves at first glance. Vennum’s handling of paint has shifted toward a looser application over time and she has amplified the contrast between dark and light. Aside from careful measurements to determine the ratios of her color fields, her work is built from influences of the weather, recent visual experience and discovery within the painting itself. The resulting canvasses are both lively and ethereal. “I work like an Abstract Expressionist. It’s a discovery, step by step. It’s also a meditation, a combination of intention and meditation. I try to clear my mind when I paint, so that eventually the painting will realize itself.”
8
9
Nostalgia 2017, oil on canvas 40 x 48 inches/101.6 x 122 cm 10
11
Ceremony 2013, oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm 12
13
Wanderings 1, 2, 3 2017–18, oil on canvas 24 x 29 inches/61 x 73.7 cm each 14
15
Hidden 2015, oil on canvas 24 x 29 inches/61 x 73.7 cm 16
17
Slit 2015, oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm 18
19
Other Atmospheres 1, 2, 3, 4 2015, oil on canvas 29 x 24 inches/73.7 x 61 cm each 20
21
Meditation 2018, oil on canvas 40 x 48 inches/101.6 x 122 cm 22
23
Four Through Time 2010–15, oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches/152.4 x 122 cm 24
25
Remembrance 2018, oil on canvas 40 x 48 inches/101.6 x 122 cm 26
27
Silent Glide 2015, oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm 28
29
JOAN VENNUM Joan Vennum is a native of New York. She studied art in the 1950s at the University of Illinois with Abe Rattner and at Washington University with Abstract Expressionist Paul Burlin, who was a strong influence. Inspiration has also come from painters Piero della Francesca, Diego Velazquez and Philip Guston. Vennum is married to the painter Ted Kurahara. Vennum has exhibited widely in the United States and Sweden. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum; The Power Collection of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Konstmuseet, Uttersberg, Sweden; the Skandia FÜrsäkringsbolag, Stockholm; and the Museo Civico, Taverna, Italy.
SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERIES new york 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 tel 212 677 4520 • gallery@sundaramtagore.com
new york 1100 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028 tel 212 288 2889 • gallery@sundaramtagore.com hong kong 4/F, 57–59 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong tel 852 2581 9678 • hongkong@sundaramtagore.com singapore 5 Lock Road 01–05, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108933 tel 65 6694 3378 • singapore@sundaramtagore.com President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Sales director, Singapore: Melanie Taylor Exhibition coordinator/registrar: Julia Occhiogrosso Designer: Russell Whitehead Editorial support: Kieran Doherty
WWW.SUNDARAMTAGORE.COM Photographs © 2018 Joan Vennum Text © 2018 Sundaram Tagore Gallery All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: Hidden, 2015, oil on canvas, 24 x 29 inches/61 x 73.7 cm