Unravelling the nuanced connection between belonging and belongings, Joanne Tepper Saffren’s show at Axis Gallery uses the clothes left hanging on her late husbands side of their closet to create presence from absence. Saffren’s visceral art is one of disclosure—an honest and intimate inquiry into love, loss and grief—and universal in it’s relevance.
The paper paintings, neon, and sculpture in this exhibition take their cue from the self probing that defines the artists work. “It’s nice to be with you!”, the show’s title, is from a hand written love note, left on the artists doorstep by her late husband in 1987, and traced in blue light by neon by artist Shawna Peterson.
Challenging the boundaries of paper making, the artist created a unique process to sculpt the wet pulp into human scaled organic paper structures, hung at human height, and floating off the gallery walls. Gestural marks, faces, clouds, landscapes and ghostly figures, emerging and collapsing, are thoughtfully created by allowing the fibers to float and knit themselves on a 4’ x 6’ screen placed in a bed of water. Emerging from the humble materials, and the color palette of her husbands wardrobe, the ephemeral installation reflects our human fragility and temporality.
Above and lining the perimeter of the gallery, are a series of small unedited experimental works in pulp while Joanne’s handmade furniture and random ceramics, bask the white cube installation with domestic warmth.
Artist Bio
Joanne Tepper Saffren is a modern-day expressionist. Using a wide range of media—including drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, paper making and embroidery—her work draws from her own personal memories and dreams to inquire into our universal experiences.
Originally from Los Angeles and now based in Sacramento, Joanne received her Bachelors in Fine Arts in 1978 from Otis School of Art and Design. She worked as a graphic designer, art director and art educator for over 35 years while continuing her fine art practice. In 2018, Joanne received a Masters in Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, she is a Verge resident artist, a member of Axis Gallery Sacramento and a member of Chicago based, Mother Art: Revisited.
