Joan Kiley-Thomas

What interests me is the chaotic mixture and circus-like quality of multimedia images influencing our visual lives. We are assaulted daily with opposing images that can create a surreal tension within us. This separation from our physical reality versus a virtual world manifests as a detached reality in our lives. How do we process this visual information?

Humor plays a definite role in my art, making light of the seriousness with which we take ourselves. I randomly choose imagery for each painting from many places in media, magazines, TV, movies, and books. My response to each image is personal. I choose what strikes me as most interesting on that day. The resulting painting can become a story, creating visual conversations.

My process involves drawing, using the computer program, photoshop, and then having large digital prints made as working sketches. From these prints I redraw onto primed wood or canvas and then paint on a larger scale in oils. Consequently, because of this process, a synthesis occurs from frequent changes. The final paintings have a new and different spirit from the original computer rendering.

Folk art, the black line and color fill of comic books, media icons all contribute to my vision. I thrive on...

Studied painting at Mass College of Art and Design Boston MA 1991

Studied at The Museum School. Spring semester,
Boston MA 1991

Open Studios at The Eclipse Mill 2004-2016