Joanne Kent, Selected Works, PASS


Joanne Kent and Michael Gessner: Selected Works PASS, Painting and Sculpture Studio Washington, DC October 1999 By Stuart Greenwell washington review december/january 1999/00		...Joanne Kent has metamorphosed as of late. Her dark, brooding, "organo-industrial" pieces of the last several years have, the past year or so, given way to bright, spiky, meringue-like paintings which have the potential to light up a room. This exhibition features a number of her latest works but sadly only one large one, a delicious, bright yellow painting entitled "Sunshine Sutra." I say sadly because these works always leave the viewer wanting more as they are quite powerful en masse. Kent also shows us a little of what brought her to the current works by including a small sampling of her past styles. "More or Less" is a yellow grid on a background of thick waxy black paint reminiscent of a tarred roof; its strength lying in its masculine handling of its surface. "Wheelworks I" harkens back several years to a time when Kent worked on a monumental scale. The first time I saw her Wheelworks series was at Gallery 10, a nice space but sectioned off into several small rooms, leaving the pieces to engulf them. PASS allows Wheelworks I room to breathe, bringing its scale more in line with what the piece requires....