What Happens When Two Bodies of Work Come Into Contact
The latest exhibition, 'This World,' at Standard Space gallery in Sharon, CT, is a two person show featuring works by John Frederick Walker and Jeff Joyce. These artists create divergent work through the use of related materials. Walker transforms books into objects that are at once both sculpture and painting, to conjure notions of cultural memory and forgetting. Joyce’s collages
are constructed of fragments of old marine charts and painted night skies that evoke cosmic searching. The alchemy of the work of both artists reveals their shared metaphysical interests. The essence of the exhibition lies in the relationship between two (similar but different) bodies of work that seek an altered world, using iconography of both nature and culture. Finally, in interviewing both artists, I see how they echo the mysticism of each other's work.
Where did you grow up and what is your first memory of art?
John Frederick Walker, Remnant Pages, mixed media, altered book, 13.25 x 23.5 x 1.325”, 2024
J.F.W: I was born in New York. My mother and father and older siblings lived in Port Washington on Long Island. My father was a commercial artist in New York, and taught lettering at Pratt Institute in the late 1940s. I was fascinated by the drawing board and art supplies he kept at home to work on weekends and was astonished to discover that I too could make marks on paper. I made drawings of imaginary animals on his office stationery and went on from there. Art became central to my thinking, creative activity, and life.
Jeff Joyce, Land’s End, flashe on museum board, marine chart, 44.5 x 44.5”, 2019
J.J: I grew up in rural western North Carolina: a bucolic but culturally isolated childhood. My first trip to a museum was during a middle school trip. My first memory of Art occurred one day when I was about five years old, while playing in a gravel driveway on my grandfather’s farm. I discovered an arrowhead, beautifully fashioned in hard grey flint. Even at that early age I
was struck by its sculptural beauty, and the obvious fact that a person had made it. What I did not know then was the piece was about a thousand years old.
How did you pursue your studies and career to be an artist?
John Frederick Walker, Slashed Book, mixed media, altered book,
9 x 13.25 x 1 inches, 2021
J.F.W: When I demonstrated a facility for drawing and painting during primary, middle and high school years, teachers would often tell me I should plan to go to art school. But during college I found myself increasingly drawn to theoretical issues in art, aesthetics and critical theory -- although I kept drawing and experimenting with various artistic directions. After graduate work at New York University, specializing in aesthetics and critical theory, I got married and had a brief career as a college instructor, teaching philosophy in Kentucky and Oregon. I returned to New York in 1971, moved to Soho and began working as a freelance editor, journalist, and author, a day job which has allowed me to devote at least half my working time to art. After moving to Connecticut with my family in 1985, I was able to have a generous studio space in a barn on our property. I met several Litchfield County artists who encouraged me to start exhibiting, which I did in 1992.
Jeff Joyce, Range: Blue, oil on marine chart, 34 x 26”, 2022
J.J: I knew without doubt by the time I entered high school that I would become an artist (with no idea what that meant). I pursued those studies (drawing, painting, art history) with great focus from the very start in undergrad school in NC, and afterwards at the New York Studio School. I knew a lot of painters who got construction jobs to support their practice. I did not have great carpentry skills, so I began to work for various 57th Street art dealers. I view my time at blue-chip dealer David McKee’s gallery (1983-85) as a sort of graduate school, because I learned much about the personalities, and a window onto how the business of art was done.
How did this collaboration, This World exhibition, happen?
John Frederick Walker, Lacerated Book, mixed media, altered book,
13.125 x 21.5 x 1.625", 2023
J.F.W: After visiting my studio, Standard Space’s Founder Theo Coulombe suggested the idea of a 2-person show with Jeff Joyce. I was very pleased -- I've known Jeff and his work for some time. I was in "Bookish," an exhibition he curated for the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon and was especially drawn to his collages with marine charts. Jeff visited my studio and came up with the concept of 'This World' -- the idea of how complex, multi-level art lends itself to contemplation, draws you in, starts you thinking and triggers emotions and memories. The viewer's experience of multi-level art is what our work shares.
Jeff Joyce, 9/16/23 Soundings, flashe, book cover, and marine chart, 32.75 x 24.75”, 2023
J.J: Theo asked me about a year ago if I would consider showing with John. I was familiar with John’s work from my time as Curator for the Hotchkiss Library art program (ca 2014-2019). It so happened that I had a body of work that I thought might compliment John’s book pieces, mostly done during the pandemic (these are very much Covid-related works). From the outset I felt
the show should be a single idea, as approached by two different artists. The idea would not be my vision, or John’s vision—but what might happen when the two bodies of work came in contact: another world altogether, created by the viewer. John agreed, with enthusiasm.
What is your favorite piece of the other artist in the show and why?
John Frederick Walker, Long Lacerated Book, mixed media, altered book,
9 ¼ x 30 ½ x 2", 2023
J.J.: My favorite piece of John’s is "Long Lacerated Book," because the intentional markings on the ‘pages’ of the book, which come out of the language of drawing, stand in as a kind of writing.
Jeff Joyce, Range: Moon, flashe, book cover, and marine chart, 32.75 x 24.75”, 2023
J.F.W: I'm very attracted to the visually seductive works of Jeff's you can see on his wall of the gallery. But there's one work that really fascinates me: "Range: Moon."
What has been the most challenging and the most rewarding aspect of being an artist?
John Frederick Walker, Stolen Page, mixed media, altered book, 7.625 x 12 x 2", 2021
J.F.W: Being an artist isn't just a matter of spending the time necessary to produce works. You must pursue exhibition opportunities, which aren’t always easy. Otherwise, you'd end up talking to yourself in your studio instead of finding out what your art means to others. But exhibiting your works holds out the promise of meeting other artists and serious collectors. It's flattering to have works in various collections, and especially flattering to be in the personal collections of other artists.
Jeff Joyce, Crescent, ink and flashe on marine chart, 22.5 x 25”, 2020
J.J: Of course, the most challenging aspect of being an artist is the devotion of time and resources to a pursuit that may not have a great financial reward, or may not even be seen. The payoff comes in those rare moments when the thing seems to make itself, and I slip out of the process almost entirely.
Looking to the future, what do you have planned next?
John Frederick Walker, Little Dead Index, mixed media, altered book, 5 x 7.375 x 1", 2021
J.F.W: I'm planning on expanding the work I'm doing in several directions: larger pieces (elephant folios, etc.) and very limited editions, each piece of which will be unique (wait and see).
Jeff Joyce, Soundings (Falling Star), pastel, flashe, marine chart, 43.25 x 25.5”, 2023
J.J: I work daily on paintings and drawings of the landscape, particularly as seen through the lens of History. Our cultural history defines the way we see nature, for better or worse. I’m particularly interested in the idea of Spirit of Place, what identifies a particular landscape. I plan to show some of those paintings in the near future, perhaps in a venue around here.
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