The Universe Is Not A Rose and Other Paintings is an exhibition of paintings by Claremont artist Emily Joyce. In her symmetrical paintings Joyce 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 Joyce worked as a decorative painter embellishing the walls of mansions and vacation homes. Now, a couple decades later that training has seeped into her new paintings. In this recent body of work, you’ll find 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, Joyce creates and unfolding pattern and off-beat rhythm. The decorative finishes function as sophisticated painting solutions, rather than tromp-l’oeil trickery.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 30th, 12:00 - 4:00 PM
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 - 4:00 PM and by appointment. On view April 30th through May 12th, 2022.
The Tack Room
4690 Live Oak Canyon Road
La Verne, CA 91750
Emily Joyce
“I liked things that were fixed, determinable, immutable... That was what delighted me later in plane geometry, in inorganic chemistry, in the basic laws of physics... Archimedes' principle, Atwood's machine... no risk of seeing anything whatsoever start to fluctuate, to become unstable, uncertain... I was out of my depth the moment I had to leave these regions where I felt perfectly secure and tackle the shifting, disturbing ones of three-dimensional geometry, of organic chemistry...” – from Childhood, by Nathalie Sarraute
The Universe Is Not A Rose and Other Paintings:
The Universe began as an alternating black-and-white harlequin pattern. I thought that by adding color in layers with various techniques that I could make it increasingly mathematically complex and labyrinthine. But when I came back to my studio the next day, I found The Universe had in fact become a jaunty bumblebee. Technically, nothing had changed overnight. The spiders didn’t emerge from the dusty corners to take a crack at the painting while I slept, rather a mysterious force that brings paintings into full bloom took charge, and I am one part of it.
All paintings are stopped clocks.
Biography
Born in the suburbs of Chicago, educated at the Glasgow School of Art and the Rhode Island School of Design, Emily Joyce has shown her paintings, prints, and sculptures in many exhibitions and participated in projects at: The Museum of Contemporary Art (Denver), Human Resources (Los Angeles), David B. Smith Gallery (Denver), Inman Gallery (Houston), Machine Project (Los Angeles), Caroline O’Breen Gallery (Amsterdam), Sara Meltzer Gallery (New York), BAMPFA (Berkeley), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Tang Teaching Museum (Saratoga Springs), Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and more. A book of her collaged visual poems A Cigar Caught In The Lilies,was published by Hesse Press in 2019. Joyce lives and works in Claremont, CA.