OVERVIEW | CV | PRESS | GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
Halsey Mckay Gallery is pleased to present new abstract paintings and drawings by artist Joseph Hart that expand on his recent exhibition, Unnameable, from the summer of 2020. In this series, Hart uses paper as an initial surface that is worked and layered with graphite, collage elements and acrylic paint, then mounted to linen and stretched over the armature of a stretcher frame. The works capture an aggregated harmony that sways between dueling sensations: measured but loose, rageful and generous, awkward yet bizarrely graceful.
Included in this presentation is a short interview between Hart and artist Butt Johnson, texts by artist Angel Otero and curator/gallerist Pali Kashi, and a free verse response to Hart’s work by artist Walter Price.
INQUIRE for currently available works or further information.
Installation view
FROM ABOVE by WALTER PRICE
To stare,
into a seemingly temperate plane
To attempt to enter
To discuss with self, the lineage
Follow the colors I tell myself
A world appears only for a second
Then shifts to LINE
To shape, offering the frenetic
Alluding to how to see
The warmth of color
I wonder when looking
The red, is it fire?
My gaze
Tells me these are landscapes
Viewed from above
Within our current global worries
Yet there is no road map
Only a presence
– Walter Price, 2020
Walter Price is a New York based artist.
Joseph Hart
Under Rhyme 1, 2020
Collaged paper, acrylic, enamel, oil crayon and graphite on linen
40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Detail: Joseph Hart, Under Rhyme 1, 2020
Alternate view: Joseph Hart, Under Rhyme 1, 2020
Joseph Hart
Under Rhyme 2, 2020
Collaged paper, acrylic, enamel, oil crayon and graphite on linen
40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Detail: Alternate view: Joseph Hart, Under Rhyme 2, 2020
Alternate view: Joseph Hart, Under Rhyme 2, 2020
Installation view
THE SOUND of A JOSEPH HART PAINTING by PALI KASHI
A friend once told me about an aural hallucination she had—it was a great experience she said—each sound crisp yet comforting. Noises like a pillow to sleep on. Chimes that are surround-sound lightning bolts. Not ominous lightning, but the kind which you can enjoy in bed while staring out at flashes of wonder. I can hear the recent body of work by Joseph Hart as much as I can see it. Sound effects slam against each other like slabs of colored dough… a song of slaps, slithers, and snaps. Subtle fissures layered with hushed whispers. Reverberations of mixed encounters. Clashes of exuberant bursts and buzzing unrest. Mauves harmonizing alongside soft yellows. Blacks scratching methodically toward fuchsias. Emerald green flapping and tumbling like wind. Sound is the remnant of movement. A ghost of what just happened. An orchestra of recollections. Joe is both the conductor and composer. The beautiful chaos of Hart’s symphonies stem from an internal rhythm. There is incredible control in this turbulence. Every sound studied and rewritten, each moment reimagined, all points sharpened in order to deliver a refined new language. A new outlook on our actions and gestures; a cause for commotion.
Pali Kashi is a Brooklyn based artist and curator.
Joseph Hart
Rosedud, 2021
Collaged paper, acrylic, enamel, oil crayon and graphite on linen
34 x 25 inches (86.4 x 63.5 cm)
Detail: Rosedud, 2021
Alternate view: Rosedud, 2021
ANGEL OTERO on JOSEPH HART
I have always admired and related to Joseph’s work. Being a true follower of abstract paintings since a young age, it’s been difficult to come across works that stand out with their own voice. Joseph is one of these voices. He channels many key historical artists and at the same time stands out with his unique formal language. He has an intuitive approach to his work as he starts to confront the canvas with fundamental gestures, like drawing lines, that then build up through a method of exploration. He welcomes a variety of materials over the surface, and not just paint, which gives the work an achieved energy. An ambiguous door opens for the viewer to see and feel beyond pure abstraction. Hints of representational elements help create Hart’s unique and exquisite formal language.
Angel Otero is a New York based artist.
Joseph Hart
Daelig, 2021
Collaged paper, acrylic, enamel, oil crayon and graphite on linen
34 x 25 inches (86.4 x 63.5 cm)
Detail: Daelig, 2021
Alternate view: Daelig, 2021
Joseph Hart
Thing Swamp, 2021
Collaged paper, acrylic, enamel, oil crayon and graphite on linen
34 x 25 inches (86.4 x 63.5 cm)
Detail: Thing Swamp, 2021
Alternate view: Thing Swamp, 2021
INTERVIEW with BUTT JOHNSON
Butt Johnson: Mark making— how calculated are the marks you make in these? Do you have an idea of what the “image” will look like when you start or is it all improvised? Is there a particular characteristic of mark that you like? why? What qualities do you like about using the tools that you use?
Joseph Hart: My marks are a combination of calculated and improvised. It’s using what I’ve learned over my life as an artist but also setting the conditions for new and surprising things to happen along the way. In my paintings, I start to see and understand formal relationships at around the halfway point in my process. Up until then, it’s a lot of wandering and waiting for that magic to present itself. I gravitate towards marks that are physically pleasing to execute and that have a sense of waywardness. I’m paying more attention to the earnestness of my tools—crayons, pencils, paint, paper. These are the same materials that most children use.
Installation view
BJ: Composition— Do you do thumbnails to work out composition? How do you think about positive and negative space? How do the “edges” of the paper come into play in your work?
JH: Sometimes I test drive ideas in a thumbnail sketch, or mess around with compositions digitally in Photoshop. I think about positive and negative space very graphically. I want a certain amount of aesthetic clarity through contrast, and for unusual shapes to show themselves. I try to be strategic about boundaries. A mark or shape’s proximity to the edge of the picture plane can be a powerful tension point—but it can also wreck everything. It’s a delicate zone.
Joseph Hart
Awake Portrait, 2021
colored pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
BJ: Color— How do you think through your color schemes? It seems in the drawings you have a much more limited palette than the paintings. Is that by design?
JH:I wanted to hit a certain volume in these paintings, and use colors that vibrate and rhyme with each other. What Albers calls “simultaneous contrast”. Any (color) restraint in the drawings is probably in reaction to the fullness in the paintings. Drawing is one way for me to calm down and take a beat.
Joseph Hart
Sleeping Portrait, 2021
colored pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
BJ: Motifs— It seems like you have a few motifs you work with, repetition of a few shapes and forms that you like. Can you talk about that? I remember when you were making more representational and even overtly figurative work— are some of these forces still in play here?
JH: I’ve always enjoyed making multiple versions of the same thing as a way to develop or unravel an image—particularly in my drawings. I’m interested in what survives through this process. Repetition also connects to practicing and maintenance—the idea that I’m bettering and caring for my work. A reoccurring motif has been an image of an abstracted cartoonish face tilted on its side. Another is triangle and circle shapes, linked vertically like some sort of spinal column or geometric animation sequence. These are examples of marks and shapes that roll naturally out of my wrist and arm. The action of making these feels really nice—that physical pleasure through drawing I was referring to earlier. It’s cool to think about the figurative/narrative-based stuff I was making 15-20 years ago and how it manifests now, albeit very burried. Cartoons, comics and animation are some of my earliest influences. That history is certainly important.
Joseph Hart
Side Portrait, 2021
colored pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
BJ: Practice– What does your average day look like? How about when you are in studio? How do you manage your time there?
JH: I’ve been spending a lot of time caring for my kids during the pandemic—an absolute privilege and challenge. Our days are filled with homeschool projects, play, art making, conflict and joy, games, reading, being outdoors, putting on records etc. When my kids are actually in school and I’m able to get to my studio, its usually a mix of preparatory tasks, mellow to-do lists, thinking and reflection, being really deliberate with my moves and pouring everything I have into making my work.
Joseph Hart
Cartoon Portrait, 2021
colored pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
BJ: What would one hear in your studio?
JH: Idling 18-wheelers outside, the roar of an overhead heating system, the click and hum of an electric kiln (my studio mate’s) as it revs up to temp, or the timer notification on a rice cooker which is a hilarious digital rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I brought a basketball to studio recently, so the thwap-boing sound of dribbling is in there, too.
Butt Johnson is a New York based artist.
Joseph Hart
Animation Portrait, 2021
colored pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
