After a rough start in a gallery space on Wilshire that had scores of structural problems, gallerist and artist Jill Joy is back on La Brea, in a second iteration that is sure to bring “joy” to fans of her art and the curated shows she’s planned featuring other artists.
Upcoming, Aline Mare (above) and Michael Giancristiano will be presenting Organic Integration, opening November 5th; continuing is Joy’s inaugural show in her new space, Emotion, on display through December 3rd. The gallery both Joy’s art and that of other artists whose work includes elements of, to quote Joy, “spiritual healing and the evolution of consciousness.”
Joy’s own show here is visually very dramatic. “It’s me processing an emotional experience. Calm isn’t a part of this work,” the artist attests. “It’s very raw. A lot of people respond to this, but personally I like calmer stuff.”
The artist “barely used a brush” to create this body of work, saying “I scraped with trowels. It’s very thick paint. It took a long time to dry.” Joy creates only a few pieces a year, the most recent in this exhibition is from 2015, with others dating to 2010.
The power – and often the darkness – of Emotion is in both Joy’s color palette and in the slashing, even angry paint strokes. It’s work that exhumes and compels, that serves as a release and is the fulcrum in a storm of feeling. In short, it’s like touching lightening in a bottle, or perhaps more to the point, like watching visual thunder.
Emotion is one part of a three-part series including Joy’s Consciousness and Illumination. The goal of all of the artist’s work is to expand consciousness itself.
Check out Joy’s work and in November, that of Mare and Giancristiano – (Mare left, Giancristiano right, above) whose exciting new exhibition includes natural elements – at 456 S. La Brea Ave.
- Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke, and upcoming exhibition courtesy Aline Mare and Jill Joy Gallery.