Joseph Brooks - This Is Not Abstract

Joseph Brooks - This Is Not Abstract

September 11th - October 2nd, 2014

Opening Reception - September 11th 6 to 9pm

Artist Statement:
Line has always been important to me as an artist. A line can produce beauty and decay, express the past and move the mind forward to the future. Line is ultimately the underpinning of my work. Whether I am drawing characters or doing non-representational work, the line is my constant.

My non-representational work is an exercise in color, composition, and form. It shows how there can be beauty without being a defined object. What is a sunset if not color and composition? I do not refer to this work as abstract because it is not an abstraction of any form. I strip objects of their familiarity and allow the viewer to make their own connections to the work.

In regards to color, I believe that there is enough drab in the concrete jungle we live in. My non-representational work is mostly done in watercolor, gouache, and Pen & Ink. This work is done on paper then mounted on wood panels and clear coated with a 2 part epoxy resin. The resin gives the work a high gloss finish that accentuates the details within the work and finishes a piece like no other top coat.

I work in watercolor as it is a medium unto itself. It is in opposition to most conventional ways of painting in that white is a subtractive (or masked) process instead of an additive one. It allows the paper to be a part of the artwork instead of just a substrate for it. This simple difference is what originally drew me to the medium of watercolor.
Bio:
Joseph Brooks is a Pacific Northwest native, growing up in Tacoma and moving to Seattle in 2006. Joseph, known as Joey by most, got the art bug early on through his step-grandmother who was a professional artist and influenced him greatly when he was a child. During his teen aged years, Joey started moving away from classical drawing and started working in different mediums, one being aerosol. Working with aerosol on a large scale ended with Joey having five large scale murals in Seattle and one in Tacoma done in collaboration with other artists. Joey was introduced to watercolor in high school and immediately took to it, being draw in by its similarities to drawing. His non-representational work best represents his relationship with the medium; Its vibrant, it glows, its done on paper and he can break every rule.

One can find Joey’s works at various locations around Seattle at Twilight Gallery in West Seattle, True Love Gallery in Capitol Hill, Cyclops in Belltown, The Saturn Building in Fremont, The BMX shop in Fremont, and My Monthly open studio in Greenwood

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