These Birch Panels are my first series on flame-toasted wood that incorporated the woodgrain into the design and texture of the pieces. Pleased with the outcome of these birch pieces, I created a second series on mahogany. I treated these in a similar way and experimented with more pattern and technique to exploit the woodgrain and explore the relationship between organic/random texture and controlled grid and hard-edged stenciling. The Bees and Asian motifs evolved during the process as I painted outside in the spring, observing honeybees and contemplating the honey-colored mahogany. Bees make honey: a simple phrase that alludes to hard work having sweet results. The bees are unaware of their decadent product because they are perpetually immersed in the process.
The second series in this gallery is my first collaboration with Seattle artist Natalie Oswald. The two of us came together for one weekend to create fourteen experimental works based on their desire to experience an exchange of ideas and methods through artistic collaboration. Painting on 24" x 24" canvas with acrylic, airbrush and collage, we worked side by side, exchanging paintings, to promote an interplay of subject matter, style and approach.
Finally, you will find samples from several series that were exhibited in large groupings of small canvases, which played with texture, color and the theme of Springtime and Pollination. Several of these pieces found new life as the background pattern in later series. (These are marked with NA.)
Joel Barber
Woodgrain and Canvas(2004-05)
