Joy Walker1978 Joy Walker Pattern & Decoration Color Field Abstract Op Art Painting, 1978

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Joy Walker (Canadian, b.1942)
Pattern painting
Acrylic on canvas,
This is heavily textured acrylic with a sculptural quality to it
… Read more Joy Walker (Canadian, b.1942)
Pattern painting
Acrylic on canvas,
This is heavily textured acrylic with a sculptural quality to it
Dimensions: approx. 12-1/2" x 12-1/2"
Verso of each is signed and dated, Joy Walker / 1978 / Acrylic. Provenance: the Estate of Andre Zarre Sowulewski

Joy Walker (1942– ) is a mixed media abstract painter born in Tacoma, Washington. Walker studied at the University of Oregon and Columbia University with art historian Meyer Shapiro. She also attended the New York Studio School with instructors Sidney Geist, Philip Guston, Alex Katz, and Esteban Vicente. Throughout Walker’s career, which began in 1970, she has exhibited at galleries in Canada and in the United States. Her work has subsequently been collected by Citibank and JPMorgan Chase banks.
Joy Walker: 1970 - 1995: 25 Years, George Woodman New York, NY: 55 Mercer St. Gallery, 1995.Includes essays by George Woodman, Gary Michael Dault, Yvonne Lammerich, and Andre Zarre; Accompanied a 1995 exhibition.
"One has the sense of peering through a sharp-edged hole in the wall at parts of some unknown visual expanse. In fact, implied continuation of a field is a constant in Walker's oeuvre, along with an emotive display of color held in check by powerfully graphic shapes, whether geometric or organic." Janet Koplos, Art in America, September 1995.
Her work relates to the Pattern and Decoration art movement from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The movement has sometimes been referred to as "P&D" or as The New Decorativeness. The movement was championed by the gallery owner Holly Solomon. The Pattern and Decoration movement was influenced by sources outside of what was considered to be fine art. Blurring the line between art and design, many P&D works mimic patterns like those on wallpapers, printed fabrics, and quilts. These artists also looked for inspiration outside of the United States. The influence of Islamic tile work from Spain and North Africa are visible in the geometric, floral patterns. They looked at Mexican, Roman, and Byzantine mosaics; Turkish embroidery, Japanese woodblocks; and Iranian and Indian carpets and miniatures. They often retained the same 'flattening grid' frequently employed by Minimalist painters.
There is a close connection between the Pattern and Decoration movement and the feminist art movement. The P&D movement arose in opposition to the Minimalist and Conceptualist movements. Artists included Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, Susan Michod, Miriam Schapiro, Betty Woodman, and Robert Zakanitch.
Joy Walker has been exhibiting paintings for thirty years. She is the winner of grants from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Artists Space, Change, Inc., the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council and the New York Studio School.
She exhibited at MoMA NY PS1 in 1980 along with Jaime Ardila, Allen Bertoldi, Catharina Cosin, Peter Downsbrough, Barry Feuerstein, Jasper Halfmann, Jene Highstein, Frances Hynes, John Massey, Dennis Oppenheim, Maura Sheehan, Bernard Tschumi, Joel-Peter Witkin.
She has attended the following art colonies: Yaddo, MacDowell, Edward Albee, Millay, Byrdcliffe, Pouch Cove, Baie-Saint-Paul, Sheffield Lake, Cummington and Palisades Park.
This work also bears the influence of Op Art and Kinetic Art
Vasarely, Bridget Riley, Julian Stanczak, Anni Albers and Richard Anuszkiewicz,
She showed at Andre Zarre Gallery including a solo show. This came from his collection of painting and sculpture. Andre Zarre Gallery showed Sonia Delaunay, Nassos Daphnis, Sari Dienes and Perle Fine. As well as Pat Lipsky, Jay Milder, Thornton Willis, and Kes Zapkus.
Her work is included in the The Feminist Art Project (TFAP) founded in 2006 through the Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities at Rutgers University (previously known as the Center for Women in the Arts, and previously known as the Institute for Woman and the Arts). TFAP celebrates the Feminist Art Movement which began in the late 1960s. See less