The Salon of Inner Beauty

The Salon of Inner Beauty

 Why make something? Especially now. Humanity is hurtling towards an uncertain future with all sorts of black swans poised to create new wakes in our collective experience. So why make anything? The consumerism has gotten out of hand. The logistical maze of managing the flow of objects is one of late capitalism’s booby traps, and a whole industry around the movement, storage and preservation of art objects has emerged. To see a warehouse stacked with crates of the life’s work of artists known and unknown, begs the question: why make more? Does the culture need any more visual signifiers for future generations? Eventually it all gets buried in one way or another, either in these repositories of stored creativity, on a data server, or in the literal ground over time. Then there arises the question of karma: do you create more karma every time you make something and put it into the world? If so, the work better be good, be clean, and for the upliftment of those who encounter it. It must be intentional, with a bent towards unfolding through process.

Much of what is being made today reflects our self-preoccupation, to the point that even the work commenting on societal narcissism creates a feedback loop on itself, no matter how skilled the execution. The splintering of cultural and aesthetic norms in the last few generations has given rise to all these myriad narratives of personal identity, which is constantly reinforced by the performative pressures of social media. Or the work reflects the dystopianism and mass traumatization that permeates every layer of the contemporary world. Undoubtedly, this is all an evolutionary process, always mirroring the culture at large, which, in its present form, is not looking too bright.  But what if you identify as stardust? What if you recognize yourself as pure energy? Or as a mass of photons? What does that self-identification look like when it is manifested as a work of art?

The recent resurgence of transcendental art suggests that audiences are wanting to connect with a deeper and more universal understanding, aspiration, or longing. Perhaps this is an effect of the psychedelic and metaphysical renaissance currently underway. Or it may be a consequence of the loss we have endured over the last few years, as people seek a deeper resonance. This is a heartening development, in that it represents a literal heart opening, wrenching as that process may be. But it is through that portal that compassion blossoms, and that space of inner peace and acceptance can be accessed. Inner beauty is a healed self, an integrated iteration. Like any salon, process is the key to transformation.

The Salon of Inner Beauty is an experiential object and a physical space intended to generate a vibratory healing field. It is constructed using 150,000 acupuncture needles, themselves objects specifically designed for the movement of energy in the body. The piece is installed so that the viewer can experience the piece from inside the form, surrounded by the energy of thousands of tiny healing objects.

My creative exploration has always been about bringing into form the subtler qualities of existence—those feelings and experiences that emerge from intuition, that are just on the edge of ordinary consciousness in those liminal spaces. Trying to understand and visualize how energy flows, moves and manifests has led me to study and experience many different mind/body/consciousness modalities starting in the late 1980s.  All these processes intersect in my desire to understand how the energy of things impacts the immediate environment and those who inhabit it. This has led me to investigate the research of Wilhelm Reich and Rupert Sheldrake, both of whom explore the resonance of objects and how that affects the body, mind, and spirit. Traditional Chinese Medicine is rooted in the understanding of how energy moves through the body, and how to manipulate it to bring about wellness. I briefly went to school to learn TCM in 1999-2000, and after gaining a theoretical understanding, I made my first large scale installation using acupuncture needles in 2003. People had deeply felt experiences when interacting with that work.  After the impacts of the last several years, both personal and collective, it felt appropriate to make another one of these pieces. My process of making is repetitive and rigorous, much like a meditation practice. All the feelings and thoughts that emerge during the cycle of making are present in the work. I have come to understand that works of art have their own energy and presence and life cycle. To answer my own question: I made this piece again after 20 years because I wanted to make a space for audiences to experience the resonance of an art object intentionally charged with the frequency of healing. Evolving our identities requires the unification of all aspects of the self to truly recognize our inherent creative potential and power, artistically and in life. In doing so, we can enlarge our thinking to see ourselves as much more than our human stories.

Jennifer Joseph

2023

The original piece installed at EVO Gallery in Santa Fe, 2003

Healing devices: body of evidence

This series of works is an exploration of subtle energies, and how we are affected by them. Everything is energy, and everything has a vibration at its most basic level. We all have good vibes, bad vibes, feelings of déjà vu. I have always sought to articulate the invisible world and its underpinnings through my work. My process and thinking have been guided by an ongoing study of metaphysics, astrology, numerology, systems of divination, energy, sound and light healing, meditation and visualization. Numerological meanings are encoded into the dimensions and composition of the work.

Colors and materials are chosen for their resonance and their associations with healing modalities and spiritual technologies. Color is a vibration, metals and crystals and stones carry specific frequencies as well. I bring all of these elements together as an offering of postmodern alchemy and magic in the context of contemporary art. Who knows if there is evidence to back up the claims of new age spirituality—as with any spiritual practice, a leap of faith is required, and the evidence is in the experience.

With this exhibition of experiential sculptures, installations and paintings, I’m making work that actively generates energy or mitigates energy on a subtle level through use of specific materials, all of which are earth based: metals, pigment and crystals, and all of which are chosen for metaphysical associations, and their effects on the subtle bodies. This work is an experiment to create a vibrational shift in the viewer. The only way to test it is to expose as many people as possible to these intentional spaces. I would like to ask the viewer to participate as well, by requesting that they record their experience in one word.

Phase 1: Faraday Cave

A Faraday cage operates because an external electrical field causes the electric charges within the cage's conducting material to be distributed such that they cancel the field's effect in the cage's interior. Source: Wikipedia, Encarta

This piece is a sculpture fabricated from copper wire into an elaborate abstracted cave-like structure. Living in close proximity to a cell phone tower got me interested in looking for ways to disrupt the constant bombardment of electromagnetic frequencies we are exposed to. So I started making grids, cubes and pyramids out of copper wire, and hanging them from the ceiling. Hung together, they started to resemble the interior of a crystalline cave, the planar surfaces described by lines of copper.

My intent is to fabricate a large structure entirely of copper wire into which the viewer can enter and sit and be protected from electromagnetic frequencies. Copper has been in use for over 10,000 years, and is elemental to life. Metaphysically, copper is considered to be the luckiest of metals, as well as a healing metal. It is said to conduct the intent of the metaphysician to amplify spiritual energy. In alchemy, is the metal associated with Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, charm and affluence. The dimensions of this installation will be 12 x 12 x 12’. The purpose of the faraday cave is to create a space of reduced EMF activity. The structure will be evocative of structures in nature. Repeating patterns in nature have long informed my process of repeating a simple thing many multiple times to create a complex visual situations.

Phase 2: Quartz Reboot Chamber

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macroscopic single crystals are usually identifiable by their geometrical shape, consisting of flat faces with specific, characteristic orientations. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography. Source: Stephen Lower, Chem1 online textbook—States of Matter

In spiritual circles, quartz crystals are revered for their ability, due to their structure, to facilitate smooth flow of energy in the subtle body by activating the chakras (the main energy centers in the body) and removing energy blockages. Crystals can be charged, or imbued, with intention. This piece is envisioned as a circular space created by 6 concentric rings formed by strands of drilled quartz crystal strung on fine copper wire. The dimensions of the installation would a 8’ diameter circle with a space for the viewer to sit or stand and receive a crystal healing, or an energy boost. Part of the process of the piece will be to charge the crystals on new and full moons, using a simple ritual to imbue them with intentions for the highest good of all who encounter this piece. I expect to use approximately 20,000 clear quartz crystal points to create this installation. It will be a shimmering column as light reflects off of the profusion of faceted crystals.

Phase 3: Orgonite Igloo

Orgonite is a pseudo scientific material based on the research of Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, MD. Reich was part of Freud’s circle, and his approach to psychiatry was quite radical, in that he promoted ’orgiastic potency’ as a mean of rooting out neuroses which he believed were based in socio-economic and sexual dysfunction. Indeed, Reich coined the phrase ‘sexual revolution.’ He fled the Nazis in the late 1930’s and landed in New York. There, he began researching and and promoting the concept of orgone, a term he invented to describe the presence of an active and measurable universal life force bioenergy, also known as qi or prana. Reich built orgone accumulators, devices that he designed to measure and study orgone energy. These devices reputedly helped people overcome various maladies by generating positive orgone energy. William Burroughs claimed the orgone energy helped him get off heroin. Eventually the US government shut him down, imprisoning him and physically destroying his life’s work. Among contemporary new age practitioners, orgonite is a tool that acts like Reich’s orgone accumulator, disrupting what is known as ‘bad orgone energy’ and transmuting it into ‘positive orgone energy.’ It’s very popular in new age circles for its purported ability to transmute EMF pollution into a more harmonious energy. For this project I would like to make an igloo out of orgonite bricks. The form of an igloo is a symbol of things lost in the post technology world, it imagines a space of respite from some of what ails us as a contemporary culture. Orgonite Igloo will be approximately 8’ in diameter by 6’ high, and will be made of standard size cast resin bricks embedded with quartz crystals and copper bits.

Paintings: ongoing work

The purpose of my painting practice is to create a place to rest, a visual space of harmonious contemplation and healing. My use of color and geometry relates directly to vibration, both physically and metaphysically. Pigments selectively absorb and reflect different spectra of light. Light hitting the surface of a painting is reflected back minus different wavelengths which produces the appearance of different colors. Playing with slight variations, each painting is an exploration of how the spectrum creates a very subtle dance in the eye, as the varying wavelengths--or vibrations--interact with the rods and cones in the back of the eye. Painting, for me, is a quiet discipline and a form of meditation. My process involves the repetitive act of laying down one brush stroke at a time, side by side, so that the act of painting becomes self-evident. This practice requires presence and creates a vibration of quietude and slowness, of contemplation and healing. I use color specifically to evoke a mood, and the inherent vibratory nature of color amplifies this intention. My objective with this particular body of work is to raise the vibration of the viewer, by using the physical properties of color and geometry to slow the brain down, and bring a sense of peace. Overall, I view my artist practice as a spiritual practice--bringing into being works of art that originate from transcendental states. Jennifer Joseph jenjostudio@gmail.com | 323.542.5208 | http://www.jenniferjoseph.com/ 2019 all rights reserved

Taking Back Orange

Santa Fe Collective presents:

Taking Back Orange

A group show at Art.i.fact

Over the course of the presidential election, the use of color to denote opposing teams and movements became very apparent.  Blue states/red states, pink hats, red hats. Color is highly effective as an easy symbolic device in these cases.  But when the color orange became a meme as a result of the president’s misuse of self-tanner and hair dye, that’s when it became clear that we must re-appropriate the color orange and pay homage to its richness and complexity. 

Jennifer Joseph

Curator

2017

beauty is the antidote

Beauty endures whatever insanity exists within the socio-political realm, and as such we must persist in the generative practice of creative work.  The energy of creative practice counteracts and subverts the destructive energy of those in power. 

Contemporary artists from Los Angeles and Santa Fe converge for a group exhibition in Los Angeles that explores beauty as a form of resistance.  This group of artists make work on a variety of subjects, all of it underpinned by beauty.  Each artist employs elements of the precious, the natural, the formal, the metaphysical, the mysterious, the sublime—all inherently beautiful. 

Artists in this exhibition include Chris Collins, Sydney Cooper, Larry Fodor, Jamie Hamilton, Laird Hovland, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Joseph, Emily Kimball, Joanne Lefrak, Michael Namingha, Nouel Riel, Eric Tillinghast, Edie Tsong, RJ Ward, and Marion Wasserman.

Beauty is the Antidote is a 2-day pop up exhibition at Electric Pony Studios in Central LA.  The money raised via this campaign will be used to rent a van to transport work from Santa Fe to LA, and it will also pay for lighting the exhibit, insuring the work, for an ad in Art Ltd. Magazine, and for various other expenses related to such an endeavor.  

We believe that art is the consciousness of a culture.   Beauty is the antidote by which we survive the poisonous rhetoric that is flooding the discourse at large.  We know there are many worthy causes to support in these times, but for artists and their work to flourish, we need to make these kinds of endeavors possible.

2017

The Acupuncture Needle Series

In 1999, I said to hell with art, I’m going to do something useful with my life.  So I enrolled in Oriental medical school to learn how to do acupuncture.  Well, that didn’t work out for various reasons, so after a year of study, I went back to being an artist.  I came away from that experience with useful information, and a fascination with the acupuncture needle, a very specific and arcane object.  Without going into an explanation of how acupuncture works, suffice it to say that the purpose of the needle is to stimulate and move energy in the body.   I was wondering how to translate this effect into a piece of art.

My practice has always involved proliferations of objects, and I believe that objects have resonance.  So I started to experiment with making objects using the needles, and ended up creating beads that I strung on 8’ strands which I arranged like a curtain in an 8’ circle that had an opening so the viewer could stand inside the piece.  Ultimately that piece incorporated about 50,000 needles, and yes, it moved energy.  While the piece was in process, my friends from acupuncture school would come over to hang out at my house and they would take turns sitting inside the piece—they all agreed they felt a peaceful, healing vibe while interacting with it.  Of course, this reaction is to be expected from acupuncture students. The real test came when it finally was installed in the gallery.  I was truly blown away by the reactions of people.  One man sat in there for a really long time and communed with the spirit of his father.  Another man, who was a wealthy political operative, said he never felt safer or more at peace that when he was in that space. 

My process involves generating systems to allow visual chaos and chance to emerge; I generally repeat one thing many times to build a complex visual situation from a very simple one. The pattern of the strands of beads creates the structure for the interaction of the needles with the ambient light.  The visual effect is quite beautiful, as light interacts with profusion of needles, infusing the space with light, energy and movement. 

The Astrochromatic Project

I love spectral light, color and pigment for their purity, simplicity and vibrance.  I love astrology because of how it marries heaven and earth by weaving a personal narrative with astronomy, archetype and myth. The Astrochromatic Project is about integrating these two systems by creating 360 small monochrome paintings, each one representing one nanometer, and one degree of the zodiac.

Light is measured in nanometers (nm) and the visible spectrum of light is 360nm. Color derives from the spectrum of light, and pigments selectively absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light.  Light hitting the surface of a painting is reflected back minus different wavelengths which produces the appearance of different colors.  Playing with slight variations is an exploration of how the spectrum creates a very subtle dance in the eye as the varying wavelengths interact with the rods and cones.

The zodiac is 360 degrees, starting at 0 degrees of Aries and ending at 29 degrees of Pisces.  The exact time of your birth relates to a specific degree of the zodiac, and each degree has archetypal significance.  The birth chart is a map of the psyche, and can tell us much about ourselves and how we mover through the world.  

This project doesn’t necessarily relate to archetypes—it’s more about transcending our personal myths and revealing a more essential descriptor of our true natures. The location of the sun on your birthday represents your highest self, so to relate it to a color is to connect us to the essence of our highest selves, as each color literally has a physical vibration that occurs in the eye.

Using a digital image of the spectrum, samples are taken along minute slices of the band and using the default color space in Photoshop to create images using the color assigned to a particular degree of the zodiac.

Eye Test

I generally try to make art that brings some light into the world.  Up until this point, a lot my work has dealt with big themes, such as outer space, money, healing, religion and violence, but this new work is definitely more personal. 

In 2000, I was diagnosed with keratoconus, a weird corneal disease that causes a lot of visual distortion, especially of light.  I won’t say it hasn’t been challenging, but I will say I have been blessed with the ability to see this as an advantage as an artist, and it has totally informed my work.  When I look at light, it scatters in the most beautiful way, with the effect of creating coronas and splashes around light sources.  It really is lovely, except maybe when driving at night.  As time has passed, light and color have become the main preoccupations behind my work.  I have created installations and sculptures that allow the random effects of light to become a component in the work.  The paintings I make are also an exploration of the physiological effect of color on the eye.

This new series of paintings is called Eye Test.

Eye Test refers to a few things—from the formal to the personal.  Pigments selectively absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light.  Light hitting the surface of a painting is reflected back minus different wavelengths which produces the appearance of different colors.  These paintings play with slight variations of color, and so create a very subtle dance in the eye, as the varying wavelengths interact with the photoreceptors in the retina.  So basically, it’s a micro workout for your eyes.  And color is nourishing on some other really deep levels as well.  A healthy cornea is nice and round, and an unhealthy one is more of a random shape.  Until now, I have been making paintings that have mostly employed pure geometric forms, but in this series I’m using more organic shapes, which reflect what my cornea actually looks like and the shapes I see around light sources.   Eye Test also refers to the fact that making this work literally tests my eyes.

Jennifer Joseph

May 2012

Lumen

This series of paintings arose out of my love of spectral light, color and pigment.  

 Pigments selectively absorb and reflect different spectra of light.  Light hitting the surface of a painting is reflected back minus different wavelengths which produces the appearance of different colors. 

Playing with slight variations, each painting is an exploration of how the spectrum creates a very subtle dance in the eye, as the varying wavelengths interact with the rods and cones.

Jennifer Joseph

Painting as Meditation

The purpose of my painting practice is to create a place to rest, a visual space of harmonious contemplation and healing.  My use of color and geometry relates directly to vibration, both physically and metaphysically. 

Painting, for me, is a quiet discipline and a form of meditation. My process involves the repetitive act of laying down one brush stroke at a time, side by side, so that the act of painting becomes self-evident.  This practice requires presence and creates a vibration of quietude and slowness, of contemplation and healing.  I use color specifically to evoke a mood, and the inherent vibratory nature of color amplifies this intention. 

My objective with this particular body of work is to raise the vibration of the viewer, by using the physical properties of color and geometry to slow the brain down, and bring a sense of peace.

Blue Center 02

2002

oil on panel

12 x 12”

private collection

Family Universe--a project about my community

Family Universe

An Astrological Study

Family Universe consists of tiles engraved with the astrological information of people connected to me from all walks of life. 

I believe the saying that we are spiritual beings having human experiences.  And I believe that we enter the third dimension when the alignment of the planets is just so for our own particular archetypal journey on Planet Earth.  Hence your astrological birth chart.  Your chart is the map that details the position of the planets at the time of your birth.  It also details the relationships between planets and their positions relative to each other.  Astrology overlays these patterns with archetypal characteristics and energies.

Family Universe will be made up of a constellation of engraved ceramic tiles arranged chronologically by birthdate.  I ask people in my network to participate to provide their time and date of birth and will then have tiles engraved with the date of birth, the longitude and latitude of the birthplace, and the position of the planets. 

This piece will serve as a documentation of the people in my life, and the people in their lives.  It’s a way to visualize my community, and unite everyone in a simple visual way.

Leftovers: Cool Trash for Future Generations

Leftovers:  Cool Trash for Future Generations

What is the space between physicality and non-physicality?  How long do things last?  Everything is passing into and out of existence all the time.  All of the pieces in this exhibition will eventually break down and become trash—will there be art institutions in 20,000 years?  Who knows?  I doubt it.  Given that perspective, one’s creative expression is the unique detritus of a particular point in time. 

This work is mostly sourced from materials, objects and older works that have been lying around the studio for several years.  I’ve taken what would have become trash and repurposed it as newer, cooler trash for the generations of the far distant future.

Which brings me to the next questions: how do we get here, life before birth and what lies beyond the veil of human perception?  If consciousness is eternal, and we incarnate, what does the entry into the third dimension look like?  These new installations, objects and paintings envision possible portals into the earthly experience as grids, clusters, and ripples, with the implication being that a consciousness becomes incarnate only by passing through some sort of cosmic structure. 

I’m looking at the space where things pass into and out of 3D existence, and this work is the result of that process.  I guess there is some irony in making new objects from old objects, to describe the non-physical.  It’s the only way to do it here apparently.

Jennifer Joseph

2014