Aug 2005
Joan Kresek
Denver, CO
LKresek@aol.com
Years ago, as I was asking a group of art students in a Personal Style Development class to try to find the thread in their life's body of work, I decided to consider the same question. Over the years I had explored many medias, supports and concepts. Working as a commissioned artist had taken me on many different paths. After contemplating thirty-something years of artistic projects, many looking initially as if they could have been created by different artists, I discovered that the consistent drift in my work was the idea of accentuating the three dimensional quality in the piece, whether it was contrast in textures or multiple levels of spatial depth. Sometimes it was visual and sometimes it was tactile constructions. Playing with the ambiguity of form, space and texture fueled my artistic drive.
It started showing itself when I was three years old, designing the ultimate mud pie: multiple levels decorated with radiant blades of grass, emanating from "spiral jetties" of raised pebbles, then working with contrasting textured large fabric assemblages, then onto Lucas Samarus-like chairs: chairs painted with fantasy stone textures and layered with real found objects. Ten years ago, this interest culminated in paintings on two dimensional surfaces that give the illusion that something invitingly tangible is there. Basically, trompe l'oeil painting of structures, textures and objects. The paintings often have fantasy elements involved and some kind of mystery waiting to be revealed by the viewer's imagination. The compositions are combinations of symbolic images (metaphoric portraits or prosaic musing on universal philosophic themes) and design principles. The thematic objects are specifically selected depending on their color, size, shape and relationship to each other. The settings are selected to invoke the mood of a shrine or monument - a place of honor. Everything is painted with a high degree of realism, often life size elements. Sometimes, the foreground is trompe trompe l'oeil in character, the middle and background being more atmospheric along with illusionistic.
To be able to manifest the illusion of three-dimensional form for the wonder and amusement of the audience, like a magician or circus carnie, brings the paintings to life for me. A Surreal attitude in the style of traditional trompe l'oeil, my intention is to have my still-life paintings follow in the words of Erica Jong, "there is no such thing as a still-life".
After taking time off from clients for several years to focus on being with her two young daughters, Joan Kresek found her voice as a painter. She graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design (BFA in Illustration) and then worked for 15 years as a problem solving painter, exploring a variety of styles, techniques and medias to interpret the ideas of art directors and interior designers. A move across the country and starting a family put artistic expression on a back burner. In 2002, when the opportunity to paint again presented itself in the manner of demonstrations for students, the subject matter came easily: realistic metaphoric still-lives. Some are symbolic portraits, some environmental statements, some influenced by the culture of China, the birth country of her daughters. Most of the paintings incorporate architectural elements, following the trompe l'oeil style approach. The one to one scale, streak-free paint application, closed form and over lapping elements are important considerations. Joan paints with acrylic paint, using layers of opaque paint and glazes to achieve spatial depth on canvas.
Joan's work has been represented in Florida, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Colorado, where she lives with her husband, Larry and daughters, She was the Gold Medal recipient of the Denver Art Student's League "Paint Our Town 04" competition.
In her spare time, away from the studio painting and her daughters, Joan teaches and shares her love of painting with students at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and at the Denver Art Museum.
