JOYCE POLANCE

JOYCE POLANCE /// STATEMENT

Using myself, friends and family as the subjects, I explore intimate themes with my art. My canvases are large - often seven feet tall, and the figures are usually nude. My current series of paintings is about women's personal transformations and healing. I depict subjects who are in various states of emergence from patterns that have had a negative impact on their lives. My intent is to convey them breaking out of limitations and embracing awareness, strength and freedom. In the most recent pieces, I also explore the complexities that ensue as women engage in relationships that speak to both their biological and (newly) created families. By exploring a range of dynamics - sexual tension, jealousy, sadness, anger, tenderness - my art suggests that even in a transformed world, life is messy.

Both the large size of the women and the thick, layered application of paint are meant to create an arresting visual presence echoing the internal strength of the figures. I paint the women naked to suggest their willingness to change and be vulnerable, while simultaneously embracing their sexuality and bodies. The women take ownership of both their femininity and their power. My objective is to challenge the viewers to question their own assumptions about strength and beauty.

JOYCE POLANCE
Education
1984-88 Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
1982-84 Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

☁ JOYCE POLANCE