Mata Hariby Joan KonkelMeet the Artist Receptions: Friday May 19, 4-8 PM & Saturday, May 20, 2-6 PM
Washington DC artist, Joan Konkel, uses aluminum sheet metal and finely woven mesh to form abstract works that interact with light. She describes her creative process as a sculptor’s exploration of color and how it is affected by nanospace, light, and grids. She achieves a dynamic interplay of light and color as light waves refract and reflect, not only off metal or painted canvas, but off thousands of strands of painted mesh. These bouncing light waves create constructive and deconstructive interference, increasing and decreasing light. The layers of painted mesh might be composed of cut shapes or flat planes of fiberglass mesh, or of sculpted metal mesh. Shaped mesh creates greater space between the layers. This space allows colors from different layers to blend according to the angle of viewing. In essence, color ceases to be static and is free to recombine into different hues in space.
“I love working with the opposing forces of light, absorption versus reflection and refraction. Whereas metal reflects light, the mesh draws light into the piece where it bounces off every colored strand and surface. At times a bit of refracted magic takes place that gives the illusion that the piece is lit from behind the canvas. I’m also fascinated by the properties associated with mesh: its play with depth perception, formation of patterns, and the malleability of color.”
Konkel’s artwork has been displayed in the U.S. Arts in Embassies Program at ambassadorial residences in Paris, France and Tirana, Albania and is included in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally. She was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Anni Albers Designer Award.
At 1429 Iris Street NW.
