We are very pleased to present Joanne Greenbaum’s first solo exhibition at VAN HORN.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Sidewalk Prison’, refers to the working and living conditions of the New York-based artist. Her studio is located in an environment, which is increasingly defined by new buildings and conversions. The sidewalks are narrowed through hordings; there is an acute shortage of free space and thus, Greenbaum vitually perceives her way to the studio as a ‘Sidewalk Prison’ – a subject matter, which implicitly influences her works.

Joanne Greenbaums paintings are often dominated by skeletal structures and map-like schemes, which evoke urban associations without, however, referring to concrete motives. The artist contrasts these geometrical figures with abstract forms and colour fields and thus she creates an expressive tension between rationally designed elements and spontaneous, emotional painting. Due to the multi-faceted superpositions, it becomes evident that Greenbaum places special emphasis on the actual painting process within her works.

Joanne Greenbaum: “It is rebellious, and it’s also this stubbornness I have of sticking to painting, feeling like there’s still so much to do in the two dimensions. To me, painting is limitless; I do not need to ironically quote modernist styles or modes of abstraction. I use all of that stuff in my work, but I believe that you can still be original. […] [In the course of time] I was adding real information to the paintings. I started layering them on top of each other to create another structure with fictional scaffolds on which to paint. It’s the process that became sort of speeded up, and I began to feel more comfortable with using more material, using thicker paint.”[1]

Joanne Greenbaum *1953, lives and works in New York. She studied painting at Bard College. Her solo-and group exhibitions include: MoMA PS1, New York, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Museum Abteiberg, Möchengladbach, Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich und in der Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Her works are represented in several international institutional collections, including.: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchen­glad­bach, Haus Konstruktiv Museum, Zürich, Rose Art Museum, Waltham und CCA Andratx, Mallorca.

[1] Jeremy Sigler: Joanne Greenbaum. In: BOMB, Nr. 124, Summer 2013.