Haley Josephs – Every Part of the Dream
Seattle-born, Brooklyn-based Haley Josephs is a painter of mystical and vibrant imagery.
Endowed with a gestural, almost expressionist intensity, her fanciful and colourful works are tinged with a dreamlike quality that often verges on the surreal.
Addressing themes of transience, womanhood and transformation, Josephs’s paintings are a well-balanced blend of personal and collective narratives where the artist’s most intimate experiences take on a universal relevance.
Running until 22nd December, Every Part of the Dream is Haley Joseph’s new solo exhibition at Almine Rech, London.
Inspired by a summer visit to Maine and replete with symbolic meaning, the artworks on display reflect the artist’s ongoing interest in the pastoral genre, and her view of dreams as catalysts for radical transmutation.
Haley Joseph sat down for a chat with 1883 Arts Editor to discuss her exhibition, Every Part of the Dream.
Haley Josephs, At Witch Hole, 2022 – oil on linen – 304.8 x 203.2 cm, 120 x 80 in / © Haley Josephs – Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech – Photo: Charles Roussel
Thank you Haley for agreeing to the interview.
Can you tell us about your latest work for the Every Part of the Dream exhibition at Almine Rech?
I spent a good amount of the summer painting and drawing in my dad’s basement in Maine, right next to Acadia National Park. While not all the work for this show was physically made there, it was mostly all inspired from my time there.
A lot of the images for the paintings came to me while I was hiking in the woods or by the sea on the rocky cliffs. This work continues the themes of my practice, simply put that is of death, rebirth, transformation.
This particular show employs motifs of symbols which work as guidelines for the paintings: the hiking paths you see and the hiking boots worn by the characters to signify the perpetual path (the destination being the horizon, to me that is endless), changing weather / changing sky represents the inner emotional depths of them… as well I have started painting animals more, something I’ve always wanted to do.
The animals bear witness to the figures as they experience moments of awakening, moments of bliss or contemplation. They are also symbols of psychopomps.
Installation view, Haley Josephs, Every Part of the Dream at Almine Rech London / © Haley Josephs – Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech. Photo credit Melissa Castro Duarte
I would like to ask you about your painting process. How do you get started on a piece of work? Do you envision your works in your mind before thinking of painting them?
Images come to me randomly, it could be from a feeling or a movement I witness. But they come to me more rapidly when I’m in nature.
I find it most helpful when I’m hiking on a path in the woods or somewhere by water. The image comes solid in my mind and then I work on drawing it out in my sketchbook. Everything I make comes from my imagination.
Once I’ve drawn for a while in my sketchbook and I finally see what I imagined transferred to paper I place it on the canvas.
All the colours come to me intuitively. However, oftentimes I have a specific tone or feeling I’m chasing which dictates the colours I choose.
What inspires you the most?
Nature inspires me the most.
I think you can learn a lot from a cloud, a tree, a bird, sunset and sunrise, etc. They are the original teachers.
Haley Josephs, Head Cracks Open, Let God Come In, 2022 – Oil on linen – 121.9 x 91.4 cm, 48 x 36 in / © Haley Josephs – Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech – Photo: Charles Roussel
Every Part of the Dream is on display at Almine Rech, London until 22 December.
Featured Image: Haley Josephs, Golden Valley, 2022 – oil on linen – 188 x 243.8 cm, 74 x 96 in / © Haley Josephs – Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech – Photo: Charles Roussel
Words and interview by Jacopo Nuvolari
