Joan Witek: Paintings from the 1980s
by Matthew Deleget

The following text was published in the exhibition catalogue Joan Witek: Paintings from the 1980s on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition at MINUS SPACE, Brooklyn, NY, from March 7 - October 24, 2020. 

I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to present this singular suite of paintings from the early 1980s by downtown New York artist Joan Witek here at MINUS SPACE.

Nearly all these works were first presented in Witek’s acclaimed solo exhibition in 1984 at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute (now the Carnegie Museum of Art) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After the exhibition concluded, her paintings were subsequently shipped back to NYC and placed into storage in her Tribeca studio -- with many removed from their wooden stretchers and rolled up on cardboard tubes -- for the foreseeable future.

Well that future is now. And to lay eyes on these extraordinary paintings for the first time in nearly forty years, it becomes immediately clear that Witek’s works are, without doubt, as fresh and compelling today as on the day she first made them.

Distinguished by their repeating patterns of shaggy-edged lozenge shapes in matte black and what is now richly-patinaed raw canvas, these decades-old works hum, whir, and pulse with a vibrancy and life force of today’s most urgent creations.

We‘re pleased to collaborate on this potent exhibition and catalogue with Artist Estate Studio, LLC. The exhibition was curated by polymath Jason Andrew and his essay here situates Witek’s work within the history of Post-War American Art.

The catalogue includes a selection of paintings from the period beginning with what Witek indicates are her first stretched painting. Transcriptions of the artist’s writings provide not only a detailed account of the making, but an intimate look at the narrative inspiration behind each work. Lastly, an extensive list of the artist’s exhibition history, bibliography, and public collections provides an overall look at the artist’s life and work.