Joan Bohn
Joan Bohn has shown her work in Santa Fe for the past thirteen years and during that time has developed a recognizable sense of style, presentation and color that few artists achieve.
Her vertically oriented panels, with horizontal areas of exquisitely muted colors, are constructed and de-constructed many times over. The surfaces of these paintings are scraped away repeatedly, revealing marks and abrasions which abstractly reference the landscape and pathways of the life cycle. This “digging back” into a painting presents the risk of losing what may already be good in hopes of discovering something better. It is discovering beauty through loss and the realization that what is removed is as compelling as that which remains.
In her ongoing series: The Four Seasons, Portals, and Journeys, Bohn intuitively builds up the layered surfaces using her hands, brushes, and other tools. She mixes color directly on the painting itself, letting the forms and textures that emerge lead her to the next place. An admirer of Asian art and architecture, Bohn works to create quiet sections within each painting where the viewer can “enter” the work and the eye can rest. She says, “The paintings have the feeling of being very organic. They have a sense of place and a sense of history.”
Joan lives in Houston and maintains a studio in an industrial section of the city. She thrives on the energy of this urban environment, and yet, longs for the peace and tranquility she finds during summer visits to the mountains - only to become restless once again for the city. For her it is about balance – in nature as in life. Her philosophy can be summarized by the following: “I live in a city surrounded by tall buildings, commercial development, and all the hustle and bustle that defines “urban”. Within this chaos I strive to find balance and create a sense of place derived from memories and emotion which come from the stimulation of the city but are redefined and put to rest in my paintings.” Her paintings are in private and corporate collections worldwide.
