Home » » Joanne Mattera: “The attached jpeg shows a bad printout tacked to my studio wall. It’s the most inspirational image in my studio. Shot at an angle, it was meant to show an installation wall of small Silk Road paintings, an ongoing series of little color fields with an almost textile-like grid. Instead, as a flawed print, the image has instead provided me with a raft of ideas. See the striations where the color was running out? They suggested scrims of color, which prompted me to try something similar with my paintings, such as Silk Road 87. The more pronounced lines prompted me to see what would happen if I dug into the surface. I applied multiple layers of wax paint and then dragged a metal tool across the surface to expose some what’s underneath. An entirely new series, Vicolo, resulted. (Vicolo is Italian for alley.) I work freehand so while the result is a formal linear arrangement, it’s also quite organic—and physically engaging. Every time I look at this serendipitous little mistake, with its odd hues and funny lines, I find another way to think about what I’m doing.”

Joanne Mattera: “The attached jpeg shows a bad printout tacked to my studio wall. It’s the most inspirational image in my studio. Shot at an angle, it was meant to show an installation wall of small Silk Road paintings, an ongoing series of little color fields with an almost textile-like grid. Instead, as a flawed print, the image has instead provided me with a raft of ideas. See the striations where the color was running out? They suggested scrims of color, which prompted me to try something similar with my paintings, such as Silk Road 87. The more pronounced lines prompted me to see what would happen if I dug into the surface. I applied multiple layers of wax paint and then dragged a metal tool across the surface to expose some what’s underneath. An entirely new series, Vicolo, resulted. (Vicolo is Italian for alley.) I work freehand so while the result is a formal linear arrangement, it’s also quite organic—and physically engaging. Every time I look at this serendipitous little mistake, with its odd hues and funny lines, I find another way to think about what I’m doing.”

posted July 15, 2009

Joanne Mattera: "The attached jpeg shows a bad printout tacked to my studio wall. It's the most inspirational image in my studio. Shot at an angle, it was meant to show an installation wall of small Silk Road paintings, an ongoing series of little color fields with an almost textile-like grid. Instead, as a flawed print, the image has instead provided me with a raft of ideas. See the striations where the color was running out? They suggested scrims of color, which prompted me to try something similar with my paintings, such as Silk Road 87. The more pronounced lines prompted me to see what would happen if I dug into the surface. I applied multiple layers of wax paint and then dragged a metal tool across the surface to expose some what’s underneath. An entirely new series, Vicolo, resulted. (Vicolo is Italian for alley.) I work freehand so while the result is a formal linear arrangement, it’s also quite organic—and physically engaging. Every time I look at this serendipitous little mistake, with its odd hues and funny lines, I find another way to think about what I'm doing."