Works
Biography

Abstract painter Joanne Freeman's paintings are grounded in architecture, design, popular culture and art history. Her reductive compositions and pure color recall the low-tech graphics utilized in mid-century media and allude to the color field painters of the same period. Freeman's work utilizes tape to mask out shapes and create hardedge stencil-like forms, acknowledging early screen-printing techniques as well as cubism and collage. Freeman’s multicolored paintings and drawings are made with saturated color stained onto linen and with gouache applied to handmade paper.  The simplicity of Freeman's colors and shapes demonstrate an intuitive understanding of the two-dimensional nature of painting and a keen awareness of the interplay of negative and positive space.

 

Joanne Freeman received a BS in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin and a MA in Studio Art from New York University. She serves as the Vice President of American Abstract Artists, founded in 1936 and based in New York City. She is the 2024 recipient of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting, and the 2021 recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. She has been a visiting artist at New York University, The New School for Social Research, The New York Studio School, Massachusetts College of Art, Chautauqua School of Art, The Marie Sharpe Foundation and the Rome Art Program. Freeman lives and works in New York City.

 

Freeman’s artwork has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Select solo shows include Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York, NY; Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID; 490 Atlantic, Brooklyn, NY; Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, NY; Marc Jancou Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland; Au 9 Galerie, Casablanca, Morocco; White Columns, New York, NY; The Queens Museum, Queens, NY; And the Zillman Art Museum University of Maine, Bangor, ME.  

 

Freeman has been featured in various publications including ARTnewsThe New Criterion, The L.A. WeeklyThe New York Observer, The Portland Press Herald, and online with Ahtcast, Artcritical, Boston Voyager MagazineHyperallergic, Ideelart, Joanne Mattera Art Blog, Painters' Table, Oem, and Widewalls.

 
Overview

Abstract artist Joanne Freeman's paintings are grounded in architecture, design, popular culture and art history. Her reductive compositions and pure color recall low-tech graphics and color field paintings of the mid-century, while also acknowledging cubism and collage. Freeman employs a meticulous process to create hard-edge forms, with saturated color stained onto linen and gouche applied to handmade paper. The simplicity of Freeman's compositions demonstrate an intuitive understanding of the two-dimensional nature of painting and a keen awareness of the interplay of negative and positive space.

 

Joanne Freeman's artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally and she is represented by galleries in the United States, Morocco, and Switzerland. She serves as the Vice President of American Abstract Artists in New York. She is the 2024 recipient of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting, and the 2021 recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.

Exhibitions