~JOSEPHINE, MITSUKO, DANI / w a side of EMMY !!

SOME PIX !! – FROM THE OPENING OF:

‘JOSEPHINE HALVORSON: UNFORGOTTEN’ . . . &
‘EVIDENCE of CIRCUMSTANCE’ – a 5 Person ‘Companion’ Show – curated by JOSEPHINE HALVORSON
SIKKEMA JENKINS, CHELSEA, NYC – FRI MARCH 17, 2023

ALL PHOTOS – NANCY SMITH


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, ‘Army Heater’, 2022
acrylic gouache on panel
31 x 26 in.


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, ‘Disconnect Box’, 2022
acrylic gouache on panel
32 x 26 in.


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON . . at the opening of her quietly unfolding, detailed, thoughtful . . inward looking – cast outward / show of new paintings: ‘Unforgotten’.
Sikkema Jenkins, NYC. MARCH 17, 2023


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, ‘New England Blacksmiths’, 2021
acrylic gouache on panel
44 x 31 in.


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, ‘Last Words’, detail


JOSEPHINE HALVORSON, ‘Last Words’, 2022
acrylic gouache on panel
45 x 45 in.

JOSEPHINE HALVORSON’s . . paintings have a curious, easy-going, all-over surface / a few quotes from the exhibition notes help push that dialog: “Since 2018, Halvorson has been painting with acrylic gouache on absorbent grounds. Inspired by fresco painting’s ability to indelibly hold color & mark, the artist has sought to make a sensitive surfacw that preserves her observations . . ” / “. . (she) works in a verite style, documenting the subtle shifts of shadow and thought. As she says: ‘I want to make a painting that remembers better than I can’.”


DANI LEVINE, ‘Swirl, Swoop, Circle’, 2020
pigments, plastic specks, glass with hide glue on paper pulp ground
72 x 64 in.

if Josephine’s paintings . . catch & hold, the world around her, Dani’s catch the world inside her head & sets it free. if all the world’s a garden . . this would be the flower – of internal emotions that blow – in the wind.

in curating . . ‘Evidence of Circumstance’ – a group show of 5 artists which accompanies her own show, Josephine remarks . . “I have brought together works that share questions I have in my own practice, specifically how circumstance – forces beyond one’s own control – can work in tandem with artistic will. In these works, contingency, coincidence, movement, and environment lend a hand to artistic process, imparting their agency through material transformation.”


DANI LEVINE, behind her, her painting, ‘Sail Composition, No. 1, V2’, 2023

Josephine Halvorson, on Dani’s work: “The direction that a painting takes is not up to the artist alone, but guided by a mixture of .. artistic will and the slipperiness of matter.”


DANI LEVIN . . . at the opening of ‘Evidence of Circumstance’, curated by Josephine Halvorson,
Sikkema Jenkins, NYC. March 17, 2023
but even so, what goes on inside that head, becomes a power-painted ‘conversation’, a focused free fall dialog . . that we can all . . fall, into.


DANI LEVINE, ‘Sail Composition, No. 1, V2’, 2023.
pigments with oil on canvas
72 x 64 in.


MITSUKO BROOKS, at the opening of ‘Evidence of Circumstance’, curated by JOSEPHINE HALVORSON,
Sikkema Jenkins, NYC. March 12, 2023.

if, Josephine commits shifts in reality to memory, and Dani riffs emotionally off her recollection of it, Mitsuko .. . surely makes a travelog of diary notes, ‘Evidence of Circumstance’ has many options and game plans. and we think evidence . . is such a static property / thing.
Not.
you do know what – they teach babies: “row, row your boat – life is but a dream.”
but super nice – to try and pin it down, for sure.


MITSUKO BROOKS, ‘Mail to self postmarked August 17, 2020.’, 2020.
book protector, paper, watercolor, stamps, typewriter ink
9 x 12-1/4 in.

“Miitsuko Brooks sends mail art to friends, strangers, and her future self, releasing personal messages into public circulation.” (!!!)
As a librarian, Brooks collects discarded book covers, onto which she collages diaristic writings, wishes, words of protest and resistance, and archival material. Neighbors and postal workers contribute additional markings, sometimes unintentionally, folding together author and recipent Sometimes, Brooks archives the letters in large paintings, memorializing her expressions and coming to terms with letting go.”
~gallery notes


MITSUKO BROOKS . .
the pieces are double-sided, so it’s interesting how they are hung perpendicular to the wall.
very cinematic. very effective. just like the life, she is trying to notate / always moving on.
pretty much the ‘realist’ thing – in the whole gallery, the movement of life.


MITSUKO BROOKS, ARIGATO (mail to Yoshie Sakai postmarked Septemebr 20, 2020)’, 2020.
a discarded book cover, watercolor, paper, stamps, typewriter ink
7-3/4 x 4-3/4 in.

a discarded book cover !! now, that’s sustainable art, if I ever did see one. out with the old ‘vernacular’ – in with a new life . . of beauty.


then a-long, comes . . Emmy !!!
yep, life is – but . . a dream.
EMMY THELANDER, SIKKEMA JENKINS, NYC. March 17, 2023.

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH