Joseph Hart Vija No. 9 2007 acrylic on paper 22" x 30"
Some time ago I wrote about a show of Forth Estate prints at Klaus von Nichtssagend, and I included an image of a work by Joseph Hart. Of course I did an on-line search at the time for more of the artist's work and really liked what I found. This was no surprise, considering my respect for the Williamsburg gallery, and the company the print shared.
I missed the solo show of collage work which Hart had in the Freight + Volume project space last year, so I was doubly happy to come across an announcement of the publication of "Fragments", a beautiful new limited edition book of his work, some of which appears to have been in that show. I decided to include one of the images here. I chose it for its breathtaking beauty, even if it seems to be in a style and form a bit different from most of the work I've seen.
Hart appears to be interested in systems and the way all the stuff we're surrounded by is presented to us. This includes our historical and cultural values, science and art no less than all the rest. Investigating the simplest or most complex given or invented artifact, on virtually any scale, he ends up creating living, organic "museums" with his own diagrams and maps, every one of an astounding beauty.
The publisher is San Francisco's Seems Books, and more pages can be seen on their site.
Wow, I just noticed they also have a book of Mike Paré work!