7 colour screen print on Khadi paper
35 x 25 cm [13.8 x 9.8 inches]
Edition of 50 works, signed and numbered.
About the work
Joan Jonas’ edition for the Whitechapel Gallery Mountain Owl, 2016, depicts an owl derived from one of the artist’s water colours. The owl is a familiar character in Jonas’ installations. Her frame of reference continues to span the folkloric and the canonical, touching on animism, myth and social rituals that are common to all world cultures. She draws regularly from literary influences – from Dante’s epic Divine Comedy to the Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness’ writings on the spiritual aspects of nature, which served as an important reference point for They Come to Us without a Word (2015), her recent critically-acclaimed work for the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (9 May – 22 November 2015).
About the artist
Joan Jonas lives and works between New York and Cape Breton, U.S. and emerged as a key figure in the performance art and feminist movements of the 60s. The year 1979 saw Jonas’ UK debut at the Whitechapel Gallery. She presented video works and series of live performances titled The Juniper Tree, which incorporated movement, sound, film, mirrors and props in a reinterpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name.
Jonas is a pioneer of early video art, performance and installation. At the same time the themes that continue to shape her work – myth as a conduit to the subjective and social unconscious; the holistic yet destructive relations of humans with other species; the fragility of the natural environment; and the creativity of play – often represented by children – make her work of vital relevance to the 21st century.
Selected Exhibitions
Joan Jonas (b.1936 in New York City, U.S.) studied at Mount Holyoke College, Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts (1958); the School of the Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston, Massachusetts (1961) and Columbia University (1965). In 2015 she was the S. representative at the 56th Venice Biennale and was presented in solo exhibitions at Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden; MIT List Visual Arts Centre, Boston, U.S.; and Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart, Germany. Further recent exhibitions include Light Time Tales, curated by Andrea Lissoni, HangarBicocca, Milan (2014); Masks, Dolls and Baskets, Proyecto Paralelo, Mexico (2013); and Reanimation, WAKO Works of Art, Tokyo (2013).
Joan Jonas was the third artist to be awarded the Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon.
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