Joni Wehrli, "Fortress"

Joni Wehrli, "Fortress" 8 x 8 x 3.25 inches Plaster, wood, clay, burlap, foam, beads, pigment Artists Statement: This sculpture takes off from forms in one of my paintings, which in turn take off from medical illustrations in text books. In this case, the forms in the painting reference part of the nervous system. By literalizing balance and weight in response to a 2D world, the 3D iteration of these forms takes on a more dioramic quality. In joining together disparate and often unyielding materials I wound up with a handmade object that suggests the landscape of an outer world rather than the workings of the insides of the body. Bio: Joni Wehrli is a painter and sculptor who lives and works in New York City and Livingston Manor NY. She began showing her work during the 1980s in the East Village. Over the years has had multiple solo exhibitions in NYC and Sullivan County, NY. Her work has been included in group shows in galleries, alternative spaces and university museums in New York and throughout the East Coast, including White Columns, Pace University, SUNY Albany, Hartwick College and Marymount Manhattan College. Articles about her work have appeared in The New York Times, Art in America, Heresies, The Village Voice and the Christian Science Monitor, among other publications.