Artist CV

Artist's statement

(b 1954US. Lives and works in New York)

Pairing flat planes of colour with bold, geometric forms, Freeman’s gouache compositions are studies in simplicity. Her pared-down visual language highlights the interplay of positive and negative space; between painted shapes and their paper-white inverse. The edge of each form, while sharply defined, remains irregular – the artist treading a fine line between precision and intuition. “My works on paper incorporate elements found in architecture, design, popular culture, and art history,” says Freeman. “The reductive compositions and pure flat colour mimic the low-tech graphics utilized in mid-century media, while also alluding to the colour field painters of the same period…The process acknowledges and celebrates the aesthetic qualities associated with early screen-printing techniques as well as cubism and collage.”

Solo exhibitions

2021: Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum
2018: Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, My Generation
2016: Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
2015: 490 Gallery, Brooklyn
2013: University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor
2012: Gallery Ehva, Provincetown
2008: Lohin Geduld Gallery New York
2005: Lohin Geduld Gallery New York; Au 9 Galerie D'art, Casablanca
2004: Repetition & Change, Joanne Freeman, Gerri Rachins, Brant Gallery; Mass. College of Art, Boston
1992: Bess Cutler Gallery, Santa Monica
1991: Bess Cutler Gallery, New York
1990: Marc Jancou Gallery, Zurich
1989: Bess Cutler Gallery, New Hork
1988: The Queens Museum, Flushing, New York
1986: Hudson Gallery, New York
1984: White Columns, New York
1981: Just Above Midtown/Downtown, New York

Group exhibitions

2020: Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum; Blue Print Gallery, Dallas; Blurring Boundaries, The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, South Bend Museum of Art, Warner Gallery, South Bend; IdeelArt Presents Homage to the Square Exhibition Curated by Richard Caldicott
2019: Blue Print Gallery, Dallas; American Abstract Artists: Digital Prints, 2012 - 2019, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn; Studio Visit: New Work by Six Painters, Zillman Art Museum University of Maine, Bangor; Black and White, online exhibition, Widewalls.ch; Homage to the Square, online exhibition, Artsy.net; Painters Prints, Stark Campus Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
2018: Blurring Boundaries, The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present, Murray State Univ. Murray, KY. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville; The Built Environment, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York City; Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Pier 36, New York City
2017: International Fine Print Dealers Association, New York City; The 34th Annual Fine Print Fair, Cleveland, Ohio (juror's choice award); Just Under 100, New Prints Summer 2017 International Print Center, NEW YORK CITY, (juror Katherine Bradford)
2016: Art on Paper, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Pier 36, New York City
2015: Formal Aspects, Visual Dialogue in Structure, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis; A few Conversations About Color, dm contemporary New York City; Paperazzi, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn; Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn
2014: Familiar LIne, Key Projects, Queens; Color, Shape and Form, Galerie Gris, Hudson
2012: Maine, Bogart Salon, Bushwick, New York City; Instructors Show, The School House Gallery, Provincetown; Paperazzi, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn
2011: Paper, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn
2009: Drawing Atlas, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster
2008: Drawing Atlas, Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York City; Masur Museum of Art, Munro; Selections, Lohin Geduld Gallery New York City
2007: Summer Group Show, Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York City
2006: Neo Plastic Redux, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York City; Contemporary Art Month, San Antonio; Jack the Pelican, Brooklyn
2005: Mod, Broadway Gallery, New York City; Made in the USA, Pickled Art Gallery, Beijing
2001: History Lessons, Aramona Studio, New York City
2000: One on One, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston
1992: Persistence of Painting, Varieties of Vision, Kohn Pederson, Fox Gallery, New York City
1990: Auction for Action Act Up New York, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City; Benefit Auction, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City
1989: Gallery Artists, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York City; American Pie, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York City; Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan (catalogue)
1988: Gold Show, Minor Injury, Brooklyn
1986: Hudson Gallery, New York City
1985: Nite Show, Public Image Gallery, New York City; Shifting Views ,B.A.C.A. Downtown, Brooklyn; Update 84-85, White Columns, New York City
1984: Art Against Apartheid, ABC No Rio, New York City; Four Artists, Soho Center for the Visual Arts, New York City
1983: Christminster Fine Art, New York City
1982: Hot, Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York City

Awards & residencies

2021: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2019–Present: Vice President of American Abstract Artists New York, New York City
2017: Just Under 100, New Prints Summer 2017; International Print Center, New York City, (juror Katherine Bradford); The 34th Annual Fine Print Fair, Cleveland, Ohio (juror's choice award)
2009: Fellowship, Bau Institute, Otranto, Italy
1987: Resident Palenville Art Center, Palenville, New York City
1986: Resident Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont

Press & publications

2020: Carlo Moratti, Rome Art Program, Art, whatever it takes-Interview with Freeman; Elsa Lacock, Oen, Delving into Abstract Shapes - Paintings & Prints by Joanne Freeman,
2019: George Kinghorn, Studio Visit: New Work by Six Painters; Elena Martinique, Widewalls.ch, Paint Your World Black and White With These Artworks; Phillip Barcio, Widewalls.ch, Diversity is Key to the Future of American Abstract Artists; Meet Joanne Freeman, Boston Voyager Magazine
2017: Joanne Mattera, Joanne Mattera Art Blog, Autumn in New York, Part 6: Eccentric Domesticity
2016: Daniel Larkin, A Blue Gallery Tour of Chelsea, Hyperallergic, March 11; Christelle Thomas, Joanne Freeman Interview, Ideel Art Blog, March 5; Celeste Kaufman, In Conversation with Joanne Freeman, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, February Feb.16; Phillip J. Mellen, ahtcast, Artist Interview, Joanne Freeman, February 2
2015: Rhiannon Lee, Formal Aspects at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Artscope webzine, March
2013: Franklin Einspruch, When Hostility turns into Mannerism, Subtle Simplicity offers Respite, Artcritical, Dec. 16; George Kinghorn, Three Chords, UMaine Museum of Art, Catalogue essay, June; Daniel KaNew York City, Art Review: Paintings in the Key of Bob Dylan anchor strong line up at UMMA, Portland Press Herald, August 25; Brett Baker, Joanne Freeman: In Conversation, Painters' Table; Joanne Freeman, Wit, The Painting Center, Catalogue essay, February
2012: Joanne Mattera, Calligraphic Blue, Joanne Mattera's Art Blog. May 10
2009: James Panero, Gallery Chronicle, The New Criterion, October; Joanne Mattera, Color-Time-Space Joanne Mattera's Art Blog, October 14
2008: Lily Wei. Joanne Freeman and Kim Uchiyama Lohin Geduld, Artnews, December; Joanne Mattera, Acute Conditions, October 8
2006: David Cohen, The Afterlife of an Ideal, New York Sun, June 29
2005: Mario Naves. Patience and Care Engender Paintings in Perpetual Motion, New York City Observer, December 19
1991: Peter Frank, Art Picks of the Week, LA Weekly, March 13 - March 19
1988: John Marzuli, Tanks for the Paintings, Daily News, August 26; Claudia Schwalb, Group Show Queens Museum, Cover Magazine, October; Sylvia Falcon, Hots, Part I & II, East Village Eye, September

Education

1981: MA Studio Art, New York University, New York, New York
1976: BA Fine Arts, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin