JOEL JAVIER Mode I (2022)

JOEL JAVIER
Mode I (2022)
Mixed media on panel
12” x 12”
$200

ARTIST STATEMENT:
Working synchronously between self-expression and the subconscious, I create works that are automatic, multi-layered, abstract expressions that ultimately serve as metaphors of my lifelong journey of self-discovery as a first generation Filipino American. My work goes through many stages, with each layer revealing marks that lie beneath the surface.  I aim for my work to be experiential to the viewer and to speak a universal language.  My working style can be likened to indie post rock or avant-garde experimental music: compositions that are at times light and subdued and other times heavy and frenetic in pace – energies that are catalysts for my artistic process. While it is not my intention to be explicit of my Filipino American identity through my work, it reflects what it means to be a Filipino American, an identity that is multi-layered and complex, arguably considered a minority among minorities. We are “brown” but not brown enough, Asian but not Asian enough. I intend for my art to be subversive in context, speaking for me in more ways than words on paper could ever explain.

ARTIST BIO:

Joel Javier is an accomplished artist and art educator.  After earning his MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Javier has been involved with education programming at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art and Intuit: Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. He is currently at the Oak Park Public Library, where he curates art exhibitions, lectures and programs and focuses on community engagement. Joel Javier was awarded the opportunity to participate in “Art and Anthropology: Portrait of the Object as Filipino”, an artist collaboration funded in 2015 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The selected Filipino American artists participated in an art exhibit and painted a mural with five Filipino artists at the Erehwon Center for the Arts in the Philippines, and again at The Field Museum.   The cultural exchange and culminating art exhibitions created a dialogue about the implications of the global Filipino diaspora and the role objects play in interpreting ethnic identity, a theme that Javier continues to explore in his own work. Throughout his professional career and studio practice, Javier continues to be an advocate for equity, diversity and opportunity in the arts.