Statement

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When I arrived in New York as a penniless artist in 1969, I embraced the use of modeling paste on canvas or wood for my paintings, through which I eventually discovered a range of artistic flexibilities — I could create soft planes as well as sculpted-looking forms with modeling paste, gesso and oil paints. This process led me toward the incorporation of three-dimensional elements in my paintings. Once I had settled on this technique, I combined my delight with my new-found textured surfaces with my passion for landscape painting by artists such as Turner. I wanted to explore an abstract approach to working with similar bold light sources and energy, but from within, not outside of, my canvases. I want the light in my canvases to emerge from within the forms themselves, to be a metaphor for the way in which the natural elements of the world combine to generate light, heat, and energy. My interest in creating 3-dimensional surfaces on paintings and prints was further enhanced as I moved into sculpture, becoming a proficient stone carver and welder of steel. I “welded” together my 2 and 3D work — but in my own manner, an approach through which I create an imaginary 3D world on the two-dimensional planes of my paintings. My upbringing and formative early years in India, a veritable subcontinent of color, were my artistic foundation. Even though many viewers find it hard to discern this in my paintings and prints, if one looks deeply enough the influence is there, particularly in my use of color. Almost unconsciously I have found a way to express my universal themes through a blending of traditional Eastern color and textures with a Western abstraction vocabulary.

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Bio

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Satish Joshi’s unique paintings and mono-prints comprise a lifetime body of work in an aesthetic style and artistic technique which he has developed and refined through his career. His uniquely recognizable painting style is achieved with a mixed media combination of acrylic modeling paste, gesso, and oils, through which he portrays his illusory three-dimensional effect of forms abstracted from nature. Satish holds an Honors Degree in painting and printmaking from the New Delhi College of Art. He settled in New York in 1969 and was a member of the Riverdale Country School Visual Arts Department from 1974-2011, where he was a beloved teacher who has inspired generations of promising young artists. He is currently the Artist-in-Residence at School of the Holy Child in Rye. Satish was on the Board of Directors of Phoenix Gallery in New York City, and is a founding member of Art on Main Street in Yonkers. He is known professionally by his first name.