I was standing on the corner of 55th and 3rd the other day waiting for the light to change, thinking to myself, am I a masochist? When a bus drove past me and I looked in the windows and there was Joe Coleman. Joe was one of my favorite painters years back and I even have an autographed copy of his book, Original Sin, that my dear friend bought for me in Baltimore. I also got to see him give a performance with Hasil Adkins at the Baltimore Visionary Art Museum. The first time I saw Joe in NYC was walking up 3rd ave near 14th st about a year after I moved here. It was one of those surreal ny moments when people you've always admired suddenly pass you on the sidewalk or you see them in a bar or restaurant. Joe paints insanely detailed paintings usually portraying the dark side of the human psyche. He describes having to rigidly order his paintings through the use of miniscule detail and borders within borders in order to provide some form of structure against all the anxiety he feels in life. I haven't been keeping up with his career lately although from a quick Google search seems like he had a show just last year. He also still has his Odditorium and now lives in Brooklyn apparently. I wonder why he was heading up to the Upper East Side then? If you're curious to know more about Joe, I highly recommend the documentary Rest In Pieces by Austrian filmmaker Adrian Pejo. It provides an honest, in-depth look at Joe's life and philosophies.
3/23/09
He sold his first painting to Lady Bird Johnson when he was in the third grade.
I was standing on the corner of 55th and 3rd the other day waiting for the light to change, thinking to myself, am I a masochist? When a bus drove past me and I looked in the windows and there was Joe Coleman. Joe was one of my favorite painters years back and I even have an autographed copy of his book, Original Sin, that my dear friend bought for me in Baltimore. I also got to see him give a performance with Hasil Adkins at the Baltimore Visionary Art Museum. The first time I saw Joe in NYC was walking up 3rd ave near 14th st about a year after I moved here. It was one of those surreal ny moments when people you've always admired suddenly pass you on the sidewalk or you see them in a bar or restaurant. Joe paints insanely detailed paintings usually portraying the dark side of the human psyche. He describes having to rigidly order his paintings through the use of miniscule detail and borders within borders in order to provide some form of structure against all the anxiety he feels in life. I haven't been keeping up with his career lately although from a quick Google search seems like he had a show just last year. He also still has his Odditorium and now lives in Brooklyn apparently. I wonder why he was heading up to the Upper East Side then? If you're curious to know more about Joe, I highly recommend the documentary Rest In Pieces by Austrian filmmaker Adrian Pejo. It provides an honest, in-depth look at Joe's life and philosophies.
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