Revered artist brings her provocative paintings of the hidden self and unseen moments to the desert
By Mona DeCrinis
When the window of second chances opened for Provincetown, Mass. artist Johniene Papandreas, she knew she had to create, but what?
For years, the talented scenic designer had worked corporate events and as a set painter for New York theatrical productions, securing a robust income and renown in those industries. Then one summer day in 2002, her longtime partner, Hillary, gently shoved Johniene through the window.
“You’ve always wanted to paint,” Hillary said. “I’ve been listening to you for 30 years say, ‘Gee, I should have been an artist. Maybe I took a wrong turn.’ Just do it. Paint something. Not for sale, not for any product, just to do it.’”
So Johniene pulled out her casein paint, which is derived from milk or soy protein and primarily used in set design, and old brushes she used for painting scenery flats and struggled with what to paint. One day, while flipping through books at a museum book store, she came across a book of paintings by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, whom Johniene adored, and the window beckoned, then insisted.
Johniene took the book to the register and threw her credit card on top, which landed in such a way that it cropped part of the face of a painting on the cover. “I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up,” she recalls. She grabbed another credit card and started playing with the window of the face she was creating on the book’s cover. “What if I could take this tiny section of face and paint it big on canvas?” she proposed to her inner muse. Her muse listened.
“I painted for something like eight hours straight,” Johniene says. “It was remarkable to see that I had captured something different out of this very famous painting, an essence that I had never seen before. So I started paying attention to how the window through which we see something alters our perception of it; how an eyebrow or a lip cropped right at the edge of a painting can transform the expression and make it much more intimate, immediate and provocative.”
On March 18, Johniene Papandreas presents pieces from her body of work at Gallery Lazzaro in Palm Desert. The brainchild of gallerists/designers Nicholas Hertneck and Lawrence Lazzaro, the loft space provides an ideal setting for Papandreas’ distinctive large-scale works depicting the unseen essence of expression — fragments of emotion we hold in our souls but rarely allow full breath.
“In theater, it’s not so much about what’s happening on the stage as about what has happened, what will happen, and what is happening off stage,” Papandreas explains. “It’s all about subtext. And it’s the same with my paintings. It’s about freezing those fleeting micro-expressions that you don’t see, but you sense.”
“A Space Between Breaths — The Paintings of Johniene Papandreas”
March 18-April 25, 2016 • Gallery Lazzaro, Palm Desert
Opening Reception & Meet the Artist, Friday, March 18, 4-8pm. Wine will be provided by Perspectiva Vineyards from Argentina, which features individual paintings by the artist on the label of each grape varietal the estate produces. On Saturday, March 19 from 10am-4pm, the artist will be available to discuss commissions.
Gallery Lazzaro, 41801 Corporate Way, Suite 13, Palm Desert CA. 310.246.8090 / www.gallerylazzaro.com. For more information on Johniene Papandreas, visit www.voy-art.com.
