Melissa Joseph at Liste Art Fair Basel 2024
Margot Semel Gallery
June 10- June 16, 2024
Basel, Switzerland
For Melissa Joseph, there is no difference between an oil painting and a felt painting. On industrial wool support, laid out as if it were a canvas, the Indo-American-born artist adds layers of color from wool fibers and, using a needle that has tiny hooks, “paints” to bring the threads to the surface, applying the same figurative and perspective principles borrowed from traditional painting. The surface is often complicated by the presence of other materials such as clay or small repechage objects that give the work additional three-dimensional depth.
“Although the needle felt technique has ancient origins, almost no one in the contemporary art world employs it,” says her gallerist Margot Semel, “and we hope that the work, deeply rooted in the past of the artist who grew up in rural Pennsylvania, will catalyze public interest.” The art of Joseph is vernacular in flavor, evolving from personal photographic memories into a multifaceted perspective and addressing more pressing social issues, including labor and gender identity.
Find more info here.
Image: Melissa Joseph, Babu, 2024. Needle felted wool in accordion, 9 x 13 x 4 in | 22.9 x 33 x 10.2 cm. Image courtesy: The artist and Margot Samel, NYC. Photo: Matthew Sherman.
