On View at Will Library: The Art of Satish Joshi

Above: Light Series #84 Satish Joshi 1984 Mixed Media 68” x 72”

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 12, 5:30-7:30, Will Library Upper Lobby.

Will Library
June 23, 2023-January 2024

Satish Joshi (known professionally as Satish) has been a prolific visual artist and educator for five decades. A retrospective of his works is on display throughout the Will Library, now through January 2024.

Artist Statement

For the past 50 years, my artistic practice has been one of experimentation, breadth, and depth. I work with equal facility in painting, printmaking and sculpture, defying the often-held expectation that an artist can master just one medium. My mind and hands are instruments of ceaseless creation: they paint, they pull handmade prints, they sculpt.

At the start of my career, financial necessity pushed me to explore inexpensive, readily-available materials and tools. I poured ordinary glue onto an unremarkable piece of plywood, drew a pattern, and pulled a “mono-print” by hand. This early, simplistic technique led to a signature process which I have refined over the years. My monoprints employ this technique, and I can pull an infinite series of entirely individual prints from one plate. Each print can be displayed independently, or grouped together as a suite of harmonious and nuanced tonal explorations. I create my paintings with a manipulation of modeling paste mixed with gesso and oils, creating soft planes and sculpted forms on a 2-dimensional substrate of canvas or wood. My paintings and monoprints are visual complements to each other, as their layered looks explore the interaction of light, texture and color.

Expanding upon what I had learned by building up and carving out surfaces through my printmaking and painting work, I taught myself to sculpt free-standing works. I welded steel and found objects together to create several indoor and outdoor sculptures. I learned to carve stone to produce alabaster, marble and limestone pieces that ranged in size from small tabletop objects to a 15’ tall torso and a 12’ reclining nude. Notable commissions include several monumental limestone and marble sculptures and a 30’ found-object metal wall.

Although I work with a variety of techniques and materials, my approach and considerations are consistent. My core explorations include the appearance of light emitting from within the composition, the interaction and modulation of planar surfaces (in both 2- and 3-dimensions), and the varied forms, textures, and phenomena that exist in the natural world.

Artist Biography

Satish Joshi (known professionally as Satish) has been a prolific visual artist and educator for five decades. Working in the mediums of painting, sculpture and printmaking, he is best known for achieving unique effects through experimental techniques. He pioneered a unique printmaking process, which he has continued to refine over the decades. Even his painting methods are unconventional; he mixes acrylic modeling paste, gesso and oils to achieve his signature three-dimensional effects on the canvas. While Satish has produced a variety of series in a range of materials over the years, his work is unified by an exploration of light, color, dimension, texture, and a reverence for the forms of the natural world.

After completing a Degree with Honors in painting and printmaking at the New Delhi College of Art, Satish settled in New York. He currently lives and works in Yonkers, NY. A passionate advocate for the arts in his community, he has inspired generations of young artists at Riverdale Country Day School in Riverdale, NY, where he was a member of the Visual Arts Department from 1974-2011. He is currently Artist-in-Residence at the School of the Holy Child in Rye, NY. Satish was a founding member of Art on Main Street in Yonkers, NY, and he served on the Board of Directors of Phoenix Gallery in New York, NY.

Satish’s artwork has been featured at venues including Bronx Museum of Art in Bronx, NY; Columbia University in New York, NY; Queens Museum of Art in Queens, NY; Consulate General of India in New York, NY; Tabla Rasa Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; National Arts Center in New York, NY; Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton, NY; College of St. Rose in Albany, NY; Lois Richards Gallery in Greenwich, CT; Patricia Judith Gallery in Boca Raton, FL; Clark Whitney Gallery in Lenox, MA; Rodger Lapelle Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; and Cygnus Gallery in San Diego, CA. His work is currently in an exhibition at the Hudson River Museum