A show of new paintings by Fairfield artist Joanie McGinnis opens at ICON Gallery this Friday during on Fairfield First Fridays, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
McGinnis’s upbeat abstract paintings appeal to a wide range of viewers. ICON Gallery Director Bill Teeple explains, “People often remark, ‘I don’t normally like abstract art, but I love Joanie’s art. It makes me happy.’” Large, sweeping brushstrokes, intricate design, and vibrant colors splashed across the canvas place Joanie’s current works squarely in the Abstract Expressionist tradition.
McGinnis refers to her current series as Chromatic Journey. Her inspiration for the work comes, in part, from her passion for color since an early age and from listening to the sounds of improvisational jazz greats like Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck, and John Coltrane.
“Over the twenty years I have worked with Joanie,” says Teeple, who curates the gallery and is also an art teacher, “I have seen her evolve from a painter of lovely watercolor florals into one of the top nonrepresentational abstract painters in the region. This evolution follows the rite of passage that 20th-century artists passed through to get from 19th-century realism to the abstract art that defined the first half of the 20th century—to jettison the real world and to live in a realm of pure form.
“And like all the greats of the abstract era, she is a lover of jazz music,” says Teeple. “The parallels between jazz and abstract art can’t be missed. In jazz music, we have sonic patterns layered on top of each other. In abstract art, we have form and color layered in patterns on top of each other. Joanie listens to jazz while she paints. And when you see her paintings, you can almost hear them.”
Teeple has often referred to nonrepresentational abstract art as visual music. “There are major themes and secondary themes,” he says, “counterpoints between layered patterns, loud and soft; consonance and dissonance; and spatial dimension. You just have to let the waves of visual form engulf your soul as sonic form does in music.”
“Joanie, after putting her 10,000 hours in, has mastered the art,” says Teeple. “Spend some time with each piece and it will start to come alive.”
ICON Gallery is located at 58 N. Main Street on the west side of the Fairfield town square. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, contact Bill Teeple at iconbillteeple@gmail.com or (641) 919-6252.