Joe Fig is known for work that explores the creative process and the spaces where art is made. His work is exhibited nationally and internationally with over 30 solo and 50 group exhibitions.
Joe Fig’s work is currently on view in an exhibition titled “Contemplation” at Cristin Tierney Gallery (New York, NY) through October 17, 2020.
The paintings in “Contemplation” present different versions of the same scene: people looking at art. Begun in 2016, the series illustrates numerous exhibitions from the past few years, and chronicles Fig’s travels across the country.
Preview the exhibition online here >
.
These paintings are all the more poignant in the era of COVID-19. A visit to an exhibition was an experience that once provided a moment of escape and reflection. Now that same experience is restricted or altogether denied to us. This series of works began as an exploration of an ongoing, routine activity for members of the art-loving public. It has taken on a sense of melancholy and nostalgia, pitted against the backdrop of a pandemic. Images that once communicated open-ended moments of rumination are now charged with a sense of loss.
Fig is the author of Inside the Painter’s Studio and Inside the Artist’s Studio (Princeton Architectural Press), which shares an intimate view inside the studios of today’s leading artists. His work can be found in numerous museums and leading private collections including the Parrish Art Museum, Norton Museum of Art, New Museum and the Toledo Museum of Art. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, ArtNews and Modern Painters as well as several international magazines. Joe is the Department Chair of both the Fine Arts and Visual Studies programs at Ringling College of Art and Design. Website: joefig.com
> Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, our free weekly e-newsletter
> Click here to subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, so you never miss an issue
> Join us for Realism Live, October 2020
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://fineartconnoisseur.com/2020/09/poignant-paintings-of-what-was-normal/&media=https://fineartconnoisseur.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/contemporary-figurative-art-Joe-Fig_Hi_Res_Painting_afKlimt.jpg&description=In "Contemplation," Joe Fig's paintings present images that once communicated open-ended moments of rumination that are now charged with...){kind=link}