ABOUT JOYCE POMMER

Joyce Pommer was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and studied at The Academy of Art College in San Francisco, The Art Institute of Boston and the Art Students League in New York City.  She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows in New York and across the country and her work is in numerous private collections.  Pommer’s abstract mixed media paintings originate from a spontaneous process using acrylic, gesso, handmade papers, fabrics and materials collaged onto surfaces of canvas to create depth, movement and texture in the space. New works are exploring the placement and movement of these materials within vast white space on the surfaces. Her larger more colorful works on canvas were in a solo exhibition at Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum in Marshall, MN in the summer of 2008. A 2012 article by Siba Kumar Das was published on Green Door magazine’s blog site Field Notes, reflecting a 2-person exhibition at Skylight Gallery. Joyce lives and works in New York City and maintains a studio in the garment district. Gallery affiliations include Gallery 705, Stroudsburg, PA and Artblend, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Her painting “To a Land Beyond” received an Award of Merit from Four Points Contemporary January 2014. Joyce’s work was on the cover of Art Voices magazine summer 2014 issue with a feature story.

My paintings evolve out of my subconscious in a free flowing process - I do not start with a preconceived idea or plan.  The space comes alive through the colors, shapes and layers that work their way into and around the space - often by collage of handmade, monoprint & marbled papers, fabrics and other diverse materials onto a surface of canvas.  Spontaneity and movement are important as the materials travel through the space.  Some paintings arise from applying gesso over earlier paintings, sanding them down and letting some of that imagery come through. Others are the direct application of materials onto the surface. The dancing, juggling images come about through their relationships in space. Each completed vision portrays a sensitivity and fragility along with a strong visual image. The image is abstract but the feeling is solidified and they become conversational. The recent white pieces are more minimalist creating an ongoing challenge.

Inspired by the early Abstract Expressionists such as Kandinsky and Klee, later Hans Hofmann I am seeking the emotion and spirit of the painting by way of the unconscious and spiritual. A new association with the Japanese floating master painters is assisting me (along with Hofmann’s spatial plasticity) in the way the imagery moves or floats through the space and relates to one another.