PRESS RELEASE
September 25, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Justin Beckman
Telephone: (509) 306-9302
Email: art@punchgallery.org
Kill Date: Oct 28, 2007
A Hundred Horses in a
Landscape & Other Collages
Joanna Thomas
Oct 4 – 28, 2007
Hours: Noon-5 pm, Fri-Sun,
Or by appointment: art@punchgallery.org
PUNCH, 119 Prefontaine Place S.
Seattle, WA 98104
www.punchgallery.org, (206) 621-1945
Opening Reception:
Thursday, Oct 4, 2007, 5-8 pm
Artist will be in attendance the first and final
Saturdays of the month.
A Hundred Horses in a Landscape (detail),
2007, collage on found hanging scroll, 51” X 24”
Collage artist Joanna Thomas has long been obsessed with the feminist question, “Why have
there been no great women artists?” In this recent body of work, Thomas continues her
investigation into the why and wherefore of cherished artwork created by “masters,” and focuses
her attention on the landscape paintings of the Chinese literati from centuries past.
The Chinese tradition of literati painting began about the 10th Century and continued for some
1000 years, producing works of art by wealthy gentlemen scholars who combined the talents of
painting, poetry, and calligraphy to express the Confucian ideals of the junzi (noble person).
Believing that their ethereal landscape paintings revealed inner moral qualities of the self, they
created scenes of peace and tranquility, depicting man in complete harmony with nature.
During this same time period, the mothers, wives, and daughters of these culturally elite
gentlemen perpetuated the custom of foot binding, rendering themselves rather useless, able to
walk only short distances, all in the name of beauty.
Thomas, released from the pointy-toed, spike-heeled shoes she wore as a cocktail waitress,
finds satisfaction in adding collage elements to the meticulous brushstrokes of gentlemen
scholars, and, not unlike a graffiti artist, seeks to both embellish and deface. She is currently
an undergraduate at Central Washington University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Humanities, with a minor in Women’s Studies, and is fast approaching her sixtieth birthday.
Established in March 2006 by a group of artists from central Washington, PUNCH promotes the
visual arts as a necessary, valid, and worthwhile contribution to Seattle’s cultural growth. The
primary mission of PUNCH is to provide support and encouragement for artists to create and
exhibit their work in an atmosphere free from the constraints of commercialism.
www.punchgallery.org