Jo-Ann Brody

STATEMENT

Brody’s figures continue to focus on gesture and stance through a lifetime lens of figurative work. The brain recognizes a figure with very few cues. We know it is a person, a woman. We are hard wired for that so despite distortion, exaggeration, mis-proportion, and incorrect anatomy we recognize what is before us. Brody has been known to reply to a question about life drawing, “Why should I confuse myself with reality. If I need a detail, I look on the mirror.” She creates a line in space through linear elements. Heads have always been more of a punctuation point. This year, hands have sprung into the spotlight. 

Representational color is not important. For years the palette was earth tones. Suddenly with papier mache, color springs to the eye. Brody uses photographs of her surroundings from dog walks—three a day—and views from the window. She lives on the edge of a nature preserve in the Hudson Valley. As a figurative artist these elements of nature suddenly are included enriching the figures with natural texture and sometimes vibrant color. 

Papier mache is made from a mixture of papers, paper pulp and glue. There is no separate armature. The structure comes from rolled paper tubes glued together. Mulberry paper and rice paper add to the texture and look of the pieces. The photos are printed on archival paper with a laser printer in 1.5 x 11 size, then cut and torn and glued into place. Each piece is at least 3 layers and is then finished with varnish. ClayCrete bags were left as surplus materials that inspired the finish of the two sitting figures.

Another series has a background of trees, earth, and sky collaged together with figures imposed on top. In the last of these pieces, gesture and stance explode though they have always remained of paramount importance.

Jo-Ann Brody, 2024