Emily Joyce: Under The Garden
Inman Gallery, Houston
January 14 – February 25, 2023
Blue Nile, 2022
Flashe vinyl paint, acrylic, and metal leaf on canvas over panel
16 x 16 in (40.6 x 40.6 cm)
© Emily Joyce, courtesy of Inman Gallery
Former Core Artist in Residence EMILY JOYCE (b. 1976) returns to Houston for her seventh solo exhibition with the Inman Gallery.
In Emily Joyce’s recent symmetrical paintings, she explores hidden systems of nature, the built world, and the cosmos. The paintings are composed of modular and interlocking hexagons, triangles, and concentric circles with special surprise guest appearances by the occasional lily or a bit of gilded text.
While in her twenties and fresh out of art school, Emily Joyce worked as a decorative painter, embellishing the walls of mansions and vacation homes. Now, a few decades later, that early training has seeped into her new paintings.
In this recent body of work, there are combinations of faux-bois, gold leafing, spatter painting, stenciling, rag-rolling, marbelizing etc.–sometimes all in one composition. By assigning each technique to its own specific shape on the canvas, Emily Joyce creates an unfolding pattern and off-beat rhythm. The decorative finishes function as sophisticated painting solutions, rather than tromp-l’oeil trickery.
Emily Joyce’s presentation includes a site-specific painting onto which other works are hung, a self-referential work that cleverly–and playfully–exemplifies these conceptual underpinnings.
INMAN GALLERY
3901 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
