Joseph

These colourful retro compositions find their origins in comic books, advertisements and even bottle caps, for through his paintings, Joseph celebrates the triumph of pop in all its forms. The glossy resin finish on his paintings evokes the enamelled advertising panels of the first half of the 20th century – a finish ideally suited to this world of larger-than-life perfection. While Joseph takes clear visual inspiration from consumer society, its influence is no less present in the form of his work: each piece is made up of several wooden panels assembled in such a way that they can be rearranged, taken apart or even added to at will. Joseph pushes pop art to its logical conclusion: an art form in which the consumer takes his or her place beside the artist in the creative process. As we look at these excessively beautiful women, these people with their fixed smiles, these comic book characters with their exaggerated expressions and gestures, we perceive in the smooth surface of these paintings, as implacable as the characters they depict, a shadowy reflection of ourselves, a pale imitation of an imitation: life imitating art imitating life.