Thursday 29 March 2018

Josephine Halvorson


Painter Josephine Halvorson
I felt I should follow on from my last blog post with a bit about the American painter, Josephine Halvorson, who is another interesting artist doing something new and different with the ‘en plein air’ tradition. Again, working directly on location from the motif, Halvorson makes large oil paintings from unusual fragments and close-ups of different objects and surfaces in the landscape. They are close-ups of neglected places often with an industrial history which she is trying to convey a sense of in the work, as well as the formal considerations at play with the use of materials and composition.
Josephine Halvorson, 'Exposed Wall', oil on linen, 2013 (dimensions unknown)
Josephine Halvorson, 'As I Went Walking', installation at Sikkema Jenkins and Co Gallery, New York, 
I really like her website here: http://josephinehalvorson.com

I like all the images on the website of her paintings installed in various gallery installations. With many of the paintings the same size I really like the repetition of this and the abstract formal qualities of the paintings from a distance. Up close the paintings are quite peculiar. They are very painterly on one hand, wet paint energetically worked into wet paint, but they also possess a strong graphic, drawn quality. I’ve selected a few for this post, but I could have chosen so many others. I didn’t know where to start. They have a great energy. I really like them.
Josephine Halvorson (title and dimensions unknown), oil on canvas, 
Josephine Halvorson, 'Form (Facing Out), oil on linen, 152 x 61cms 

There's loads to explore and read on Josephine's website and here's some links to some other things  too, including an interview in the excellent Brooklyn Rail and the really good series 'Beer with a Painter': 

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