Sarah Joncas @ Thinkspace (6/12/09)

Sarah Joncas
‘Beneath the Seams’

June 12th – July 3rd
Opening Reception: Fri, June 12th, 7-11PM

(Los Angeles, CA) Thinkspace is proud to present, Beneath the Seams, the first solo exhibition at our gallery from Canadian artist Sarah Joncas. Her debut Los Angeles solo exhibition will feature 18 new works including oil on canvas and graphite on paper, as well as a very special installation in our front entry area, and marks her largest body of work to date both in size and scale.

(Statement): While referencing cinema, particularly film noir, my paintings for this show have been an exploration of ambiguous narratives and the pregnant moment. Swarming feelings of anxiety and alienation became the atmospheric motivation as vignettes of the private and mundane developed into environments of the haunted and dramatic. The act of voyeurism is also considered as the female lead in majority of the works appears absorbed by her own interior space, uncertain whether she conscious of her attention, like an actress (exhibitionism), or simply oblivious (introversion).

Ultimately, I used this show as an opportunity to push my portraiture into a realm that involved more consideration of narrative. Though there are still some smaller portrait pieces included, I’ve used the larger works to develop these intentions.

(Bio): Sarah Joncas was born in 1986 and grew up within both Hamilton and Niagara Falls, Ontario. Her interest in the visual arts developed at an early age, starting with the dedicated drawings of dinosaurs and lizards. Eventually the study and enjoyment of working from existing images stirred up the need in Sarah to create images of her own; ones that could reflect the world, yet also appease the personal feelings/ideas that she herself maintained. With this, her direction changed gradually from the world of animation, towards a path in fine art.

Sarah is currently working and finishing up her BFA at the Ontario College of Art and Design, in Toronto.

Website: www.teapartylove.digitalinkz.com/

Sneak Peek of ‘Beneath The Seams’:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157616356552417/

Get ready... Sarah will be in town working on a nice lil' mural/install as well and be on hand at the opening reception, so be sure come on through if you are in town.


'Beauty in the Breakdown'


'Dinner and a Movie' close up/detail shot (measuring a whopping 40x60")

This is going to be a very big show for Sarah and we're keeping things level with her shows from the last year. All works will be in the $500-$2,500 range, including some of her largest works to date.

Look for more soon... super excited for all to see her progression with this new series.

Process images of "Beauty In The Breakdown"

CommandaX' interview with Sarah got re-posted over at Hi Fructose and in the piece, they've featured some further pieces from the upcoming "Beneath The Seams" show opening on June 12th. Check out the interview here:

www.hifructose.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=351&Itemid=56

Just stopped by during Sarah's installation at Thinkspace... it's very impressive. She's really matured since her last show there with Camilla D'Errico. This show exhibits a film noir sensibility, very dramatically lit and starkly emotional. The installation in front is really cool, definitely worth checking out. I snapped a few shots of my favorite pieces in the show for your enjoyment.

Don't forget to check out my recent in-depth interview with her, which was featured on the Hi-Fructose blog a couple of weeks ago.

She's kept her prices at extremely reasonable levels this time around, so it's an excellent opportunity to pick up some stellar work. You can see the preview here.

Thanks for the post CommandaX!

We just put up our interview with Sarah along with some add'l shots of things coming together from this evening here:
sourharvestblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-with-sarah-joncas.html

Please do come on out Friday, as the scale of these need to be seen in person.

Don't forget to come out tomorrow night for Sarah's show at Thinkspace! The works are really impressive in person, and Sarah is a sweetheart.




Sarah just after finishing her Thinkspace installation. (by Jack at Daily du Jour)

Sarah’s friend Ann edited a great video of the setup and opening festivities here:


Full set of about 50 pics from opening night here:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157619761738466/

View works from the show:
Sarah Joncas – thinkspacegallery.com/2009/06/works.php

Thank you to all that came out to show support and picked up a piece from the show.

Sarah really went all out for this show and there are some true gems still on hand, so please do shoot over a PM or mail to contact@sourharvest.com if you see something and we'll see what we can work out.

I really wish I didn't take lag so long on getting an original painting from Sarah. These new ones do look spectacular though.

Perhaps you haven't really looked at this body of work yet. You can see the work, including the prices, here.

Sarah has been moving away from the self-portraiture she concentrated on in her first couple of years of art school. Though she does share full lips with her figures, she really doesn't resemble the women in her latest body of work very much, with the exception of one painting, "Dark Messages," which is clearly a self-portrait, if a somewhat self-denigrating one. In reality, Sarah is soft-spoken and delicate, with elfin features. By contrast, the women in this body of work have monumental, exaggerated faces, like the statuesque art nouveau dames of Tamara de Lempicka. They are femmes fatales, brassy seductresses and tragic heroines – which couldn't be further from Sarah's "self."

However, even if Sarah painted nothing but self-portraits, there would be nothing "odd" about it. Cindy Sherman and Frida Kahlo made their highly successful careers on just that – using their own faces as a template upon which to build narratives about cultural and psychological issues. In fact, throughout history female painters were forced to paint themselves over and over again in order to earn a living, as the idea of a woman painting was such a curiosity that collectors were more interested in their persona than their vision. That's not to mention the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of self-portraits painted by all the great male painters of history.

As far as wishing for the depiction of "different looking females" goes, one could say the same of Audrey Kawasaki, Stella Im Hultberg, Amy Sol and a number of other artists in this scene. People rarely do, however, because what they paint is beautiful and meaningful, even if the method they use to express themselves varies little from show to show.

Sarah's real achievement with this body of work is the expansion of her environments, both atmospherically and conceptually, and their integration into the emotional landscape of the work. She still has room to grow, but this particular line of criticism is outdated and unfair.

I don't find self portraits strange. It must be more convenient as well.