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ARTIST STATEMENT
I’m an anthropologist by training and an artist by profession.  From an anthropological standpoint, my work responds to the ubiquity of electronic screens in our twenty-first century global society.  We enthusiastically purchase and upgrade them, then willingly surrender our attention—even to the point of addiction—to content that largely remains outside our control.  Spending hours each day working, socializing, reading, playing, even exercising in front of flickering pixilated rectangles of varying sizes is not considered abnormal, unhealthy, or excessive.  We cease to notice the incidental messaging that flows from corporate power centers via these visually compelling commodities, into our receptive minds, through our unblinking eyes. 

Therefore as an artist, I’m inspired to create objects that provide visual antidotes to electronic screens.  Most of my works hang on walls, like paintings, but my medium of choice is mosaic, which is pixilated like our beloved hi tech flat-screens.  Moreover, clerical and imperial powers of the ancient world used iconographic mosaics to manipulate the masses, whose wealth was garnered to pay for them.  However, in contrast to electronic screens, mosaic technology has not changed much since the Iron Age, although my contemporary adaptation of the medium incorporates non-traditional materials salvaged from our post-industrial society.  Most significantly, I create my work for human beings, not consumers.  The pleasing aesthetic qualities of my work are intentional, even political, as I offer viewers a still, soothing field to contemplate visually, free of manipulative messaging.

WHAT'S HAPPENING
Sales:  I just shipped 2012's first commission (click Next for detail) and sold Threadscape (detail above left, or click the link and Next twice for details) to private collectors, so the year is off to a productive start.  A big thank-you to art collectors who know their own art-loving hearts and have the courage to purchase or commission art directly from the artists who make it.

Studio work:  I'm currently working on two new projects: 1) A second, larger artwork of the generative variety, to elaborate the approach used for Grandma's Nice Mosaic Flower Pot Busted to Smithereens (click Next twice for details).  This second one is in a palette of misty blues, blue-greens, and whites.  2) A second work incorporating iridescent blown glass shards, like the Dreamlight commission.  The palette for this one is pale buttery limestone and iridescent champagne shards with bright, summery flecks of smalti. 

Writing projects:  Since launching 69 Insecurities: A Miseducation in Contemporary Fine Art Mosaic one year ago, I have received over 50 requests to turn it into a book, "with the answers."  So I'm doing it.  Maybe the answers won't be what my requestors expect, but then again, numerous how-to books exist already.  Mine will read more like a philosophical manifesto with a practical twist.

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Museum exhibitions:  My show at the Villa Bagatelle museum in Quebec City, with Sophie Drouin and Lynne Chinn, closed recently.  Two favorite comments from visitors:

I am totally flipping out! This is so incredibly beautiful. When I think my tax dollars are funding this, I feel extremely proud! 

I’ve just visited your
Quebec exhibition at Villa Bagatelle and I can tell you that it has been a long time that I’ve seen such a beautiful exhibition. Words are missing to tell you how much I’ve appreciated. 

 

Photo of Jo at work by Adam Troy Kruger © 2011.  All other content, Jo Braun © 2002-2011.  All rights reserved, property of Jo Braun and Studio Ravenna LLC.  Images may not be reproduced in any form except with artist's permission.