Joanna Pousette-Dart by Shirley Kaneda – BOMB Magazine

30 September 2024

Joanna Pousette-Dart has been painting steadily since the 1970s. By following her visual perception and intuition, she has continued to paint her distinctive abstract paintings. Her approach to space and form came from looking at the immense vistas of the US Southwest alongside an ongoing interest in the arts of other cultures. Despite her works being two-dimensional and abstract, her ovoid-shaped canvases overlaid on top of each other combined with the gestures within produce a visual situation that is neither illusionistic nor absolutely flat. The inference is a space that is not containable within the boundaries of the works.

Modernist painters sought to use the simplicity of geometry as a sign of an ideal world in which anyone can partake. Of course, modernism failed in achieving this utopian ideal, but its art and objects continue to influence many artists who find useful ways of expanding this vocabulary and regenerate painting. Pousette-Dart is one of the foremost exemplars of this endeavor.

Read more of Joanna Pousette-Dart's conversation with Shirley Kaneda for Bomb Magazine here.

Image: Joanna Pousette-Dart Centering #7, 2024. Acrylic wash on Arches watercolor paper, 74.3 x 87.6 cm 29 1/4 x 34 1/2 in © Joanna Pousette-Dart,Courtesy Lisson Gallery