JON JOANIS

Joanis’ vibrant landscapes, which he imbues with a mirage-like air, find their inspiration in the state between consciousness and sleep when the artist often experiences a wave of hypnagogic visions. Characterized by images and sensations that appear in rapid succession, the phenomena manifests within his mind’s eye as Joanis drifts into sleep, having encountered these visions since he was a child. These experiences, which the artist describes as visual thoughts accompanied by textural, tactile sensations, are essential to his process where he externalizes the psychic realm into his landscapes, teetering between the imagined and the observed. The resulting artworks explore the interactions between the immediacy of sensory experience and the organization of such details within memory.

Color is essential to Joanis’ practice. Departing from realism, the artist’s choice of palette come from silent observations that pull the fantastical into the mundane: brake lights reflecting off of pavement and beams of sunlight refracting across cacti are among the seemingly quotidian moments that, in the artist’s hand, become sensationally exciting. Joanis’ manipulation of paint’s materiality allows for wide variance in texture and atmosphere. Working with acrylic and wax pigments, Joanis infuses the media with flattening agents, creating bonds between layers with unique textural qualities. The layering the artist implores is akin to the process of silk-screen printing, capitalizing on overlapping textures and the plasticity between layered paints.

Joanis began his training at a young age when he apprenticed for Montreal-based artist Stanley Cosgrove, working his way into the studio by mowing* the artist’s lawn. Joanis would continue his formal training enrolling in a fine arts program at a nearby college all the while working at various jobs. Through a multitude of creative pursuits throughout his career, the artist continued to bolster his skills in fabrication, design, and painting. Working in smaller formats, Joanis experimented with different supports and media within his works, slowly developing his unique, self-taught artistic language. Simultaneously working as a jazz guitarist (“my other job,” as described by the artist) Joanis reconciles the two disparate artistic outlets, stating that, for him, the processes require different skill sets, yet his underlying philosophy for both remains constant.

The artist’s rich paintings of landscapes are experiences that encompass the entire sensory system, reveling in the minute intricacies of perception. Joanis welcomes his viewer through his compositions which organize memory, sight, and sensation into textural and color-filled observations. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring a poem titled “A Jazz Aria for the World for Jon Joanis” by Yesenia Montilla.