The interplay of light and space with color and pattern creates an optical magic.
My work unchains color and allows it to cross dimensions. It aims to create a unique realm where light, color and space interact with metal and layered mesh to form a visual labyrinth. This is an amorphous dimension, where depth perception may deceive, where metal seems ethereal, and layers of color combine, or fracture. It is a place of forces in opposition, the absorption of light verses the amplification of light, a place that whispers of mysteries both physical and spiritual
I begin with a base of painted canvas and layer it with painted mesh. The open weave of the mesh provides pathways for light as well as the conveyance of color. As light makes its way through layers of mesh, it reflects and refracts off thousands of colored strands before reaching the painted canvas below. Optical illusions and physics play with one's perception. Sometimes a shimmering luminescence will arise. Colors from the layers blend optically and can change hue from other angles. Intriguingly, certain color combinations give rise to the moiré effect which breaks apart a hue into a bicolored interference pattern. Other color combinations block the effect.
What drives me are curiosity and the desire to create art that remains active. I explore possibilities inherent within the materials and harness or enhance phenomena. Patterns are manipulated, space is altered, colors layered, and the door left open for the painted strands and ambient light to perform their magic. With light and space incorporated, I hope to create a labyrinth for contemplation, the imagination, and visual enchantment.
Joan Konkel was born in northern California, spending her younger years in the sunny agricultural valley of San Joaquin before her family moved to the Napa wine country. Her grandmother, who had a passion to see the world, often took her granddaughter along. Joan was immersed in the museums of Europe, ancient ruins of Egypt, buddhas and pagodas of the Orient. She later spent her junior year in Aix-en-Provence, France, birthplace and home of Cezanne. She finished her studies with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from San Francisco College for Women and a master’s degree in Sculpture from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Over the course of Konkel’s career, she transitioned from carving wood and stone, to fabricating work with canvas, paint, mesh and aluminum sheet metal. Konkel currently lives and works in Washington, DC. Her artwork has been displayed at ambassadorial residences in Paris, France and Tirana, Albania through the U.S. Arts in Embassies Program and is included in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally. She was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Anni Albers Designer Award.