Interview
Joyce Polance
Joyce Polance is a New York-based painter working in oils.
Polance has exhibited internationally and is the recipient of multiple grants and awards including six Chicago CAAP grants, a George Sugarman Foundation grant, two Judith Dawn Memorial grants, and a fellowship at Spertus Institute in Chicago. Her paintings are held internationally in private and corporate collections.
Polance was born in New York City in 1965. She attended Wesleyan University and received a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She lives and works in Chicago, Illinois and is represented by Judy Ferrara Gallery in Three Oaks, MI, Elephant Room in Chicago, IL, Gallery 13 in Minneapolis, MN, and Hemley Gallery online.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I’m originally from New York and studied illustration which never beckoned as a career. I moved to Chicago to join my husband in 1994. After teaching myself fused glass and doing that for a few years, I had the sudden desire to switch to oil painting in 1998 and have never looked back!
My work has had many incarnations. Initial impressionist landscapes led to large, semi-abstract cityscapes. In 2002, I began experimenting with encaustic and worked in that medium until 2006, mostly using the figure as my subject. But I found myself missing oils and wanting to explore more emotional narratives. I began working on very large paintings (up to 7 feet) of nude women, usually in groupings of three. I was fascinated with breaking up the flesh into smaller, abstract shapes which seemed representational from a distance.
By 2013, I was getting that restless feeling that my work needed to change again, that my figures needed to unravel somehow. Since then, I have constantly experimented, learning new languages, using the paint differently. I’m doing both figure and landscape now, and I have less and less control over what I paint. I try to let whatever wants to happen, happen and just stay out of the way. It’s been frustrating and rewarding, and I’m continually buoyed by the challenge.”
What inspires you most?
“I moved to upstate New York this year, and I am presently inspired by the landscape around me - mountains and huge, twisting trees. I am also inspired, particularly in my figurative work, by all art forms that move me emotionally - a great painting by another artist, a great movie, music - the feelings of which I try to capture in my art.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“In our current political climate of polarization and fake news, I feel there is nothing more important than authenticity. For me, this means a willingness to be vulnerable and exposed, to reveal my inner, chaotic experiences in my work. Through letting myself be known, I hope to inspire others to let themselves be known, forging genuine human connections as resistance to a world where we can’t believe much of what we read.”
How would you describe your work?
“At present, I paint expressionist landscapes and portraits which focus on movement and emotion. My paintings blur the definitions of figures and landscapes. Trees and mountains scream, dissolving into creatures, churning with inner turmoil. Figures branch into abstracted scenery and spaces. My work also incorporates elements of impressionism and surrealism.”
“My use of thick, impasto paint, gouges, intense color, and expressive brushwork all contribute to obscuring the specific features of my subject while revealing previously hidden emotional qualities. For me, it is in these emotions where the truth lies.”
Which artists influence you most?
“That has changed over the years, depending upon what I am doing in my own work. Soutine is my all-time favorite painter and my biggest influence, followed by De Kooning.”
Could you tell us more about your creative process?
“When I was doing the large nudes, they would take three months to complete, so I worked from computer printouts of photos I took. Now, I begin a painting with a specific reference, but once the image is initially laid in, I cease looking at it. Instead, I engage in dialogue with the painting, letting it lead me to unknown places. Objects begin to change shape; planes become distorted, crashing into one another, melting. I often paint upside down in order to view the subject as an abstract composition, enabling me to focus on color and movement rather than on representation.
I throw myself into the work with abandon, covering up or breaking apart surfaces I have just created. In becoming willing to destroy my work, I allow for something entirely new to emerge. These processes occur multiple times during the creation of a piece, removing the image even further from reality. My use of thick, impasto paint, gouges, intense color, and expressive brushwork all contribute to obscuring the specific features of my subject while revealing previously hidden emotional qualities. For me, it is in these emotions where the truth lies.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I think that's up to the individual artist. Some artists and artwork are overtly political, others influence society in more subtle ways - through emotional identification and validation, artistic inspiration, creating beauty and a sense of connection to the greater world. I think art becomes more and more important as society engages in disinformation and people create phony online personas. We need the authenticity of great art more than ever.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have a solo exhibition of landscapes at the Dubuque Museum of Art in Iowa which runs through October 17.” See more here.
“I also had a solo exhibit of my nudes at the Wausau Musuem of Contemporary Art in Wisconsin.” See more here.
Joyce has been exhibiting for more than 20 years, and her extended exhibitions list can be found on her website.
