Fahrenheit
Combustion
Gradation
JoanWulf
Artist Statement
Patterned and ephemeral—Wulf’s work embodies her intense connection with the natural world, in particular its scientific, elemental components: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Once points of departure for her paintings, the elements have transformed into “collaborators" in Wulf’s studio practice. She has variously burned, torched, sprayed, oxidized, ripped, glued, and bent materials in her quest to distill nature to its most basic state. The formal, gridded format often used in her work allows Wulf to structure systems, echoing the building blocks represented by the elements and highlighting humanity’s underlying desire to apply order to situations it finds elusive. By summoning an awareness of the direct interaction with the moment, she connects herself and the viewer to the natural world. For Wulf, “it’s about temporality and transformation—an examination of process, cause and effect, chaos and control.”
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