Joseph Holsapple

Assistant Professor of Art

Drawing and 2D Design

Bio

Joseph Holsapple received his BFA from Memphis College of Art in 2003 and his MFA from Indiana University in 2009. He has exhibited regionally and nationally, including juried shows at First Street Gallery and Blue Mountain Gallery in New York, Manifest Gallery’s Fresh Paint Biennial in Cincinnati, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Holsapple’s work has been featured in Manifest Gallery’s International Painting Annual and Fresh Paint Magazine. He has taught at Indiana University, the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, and Vincennes University. He was previously an Associate Professor of Painting & Drawing at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

MFA Painting, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
BFA Painting, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN

Artist Statement

My current work explores the subject of still life painting as a convergence of memory, imagination, and perception. I paint toys and common household items that together evoke the domesticity of childhood. The objects are painted both from memory and observation. They accumulate as I paint, resulting in an anxious clutter of discarded items-- some described in detail, others left as half-formed thoughts or faded memories. The play of light and shadow weaves a dreamlike space that lends the objects a poetic weight.

I want the paintings to unfold before the viewer. The initial clutter and chaos give way to an emergent, rhythmic order. As the viewer explores the space, the act of looking becomes one of discovery and delight. Childhood anxieties and the losses that accompany the passage of time are interwoven with a renewed joy and liveliness. The objects, suspended between these contrasting experiences, become players in a drama that speaks to the mystery and complexity of living.