Joe Slack
“I work with simplified shapes and forms and repetitive patterns influenced by human observation and the effects of positive and
negative space.”
BIOGRAPHY
Joe Slack is an multi award winning sculptor working primarily with steel on a monumental scale. Slack is an Oklahoma native receiving his BFA from Oklahoma City University in 2001. He draws inspiration form Postwar-art and mid-century modern design. Slack works intuitively with simplified shapes and forms. He uses repetitive patterns influenced by human and nature observations and plays with positive and negative space to create his abstracted figures.
ARTIST INSIGHTS
How are your background and life experiences connected to your art?
Every cut, scrape, victory, loss, love, joke and regret finds its way into my work. It's impossible to separate my life from the art.
Who are some of your biggest artistic influences?
My biggest artistic influences are Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Joan Arp, Max Ernst, Paul Klee and Barbara Hepworth.
How have you developed your artist career?
I've learned to think less and create more, letting the work reveal itself to me.
What does your artistic work intend to communicate to its audience?
An understanding and misunderstanding of self and the world around me.
Does your work comment on any current social or political issues?
Most of my work is a self-reflective of so some subversive content makes its way in.
What is one thing you would like your audience to know about you?
I continually strive to get better at not knowing what the hell I'm doing one sculpture at a time.
Which current art world trends are you following?
There is very little current work that excites me. I like digging through the past like an archeologist finding new old artists I'd never heard of.
Why have you chosen to sell your work in the 1515 Lincoln Gallery?
1515 gallery is a beautifully curated space run by lovely people.
What do you believe makes 1515 Lincoln Gallery distinct from other galleries?
1515 is high end without being stuffy.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Post-war art and mid-century modern design are what inspires my figurative abstract steel sculptures. I work intuitively with simplified forms and repetitive patterns influenced by human observation and the effects of positive and negative space. Tongue-in-cheek sentiments often find their way into my titles, and I encourage viewers to find their own meaning when it comes to my art.
Joe Slack with his sculpture
Joe Slack with his sculpture
“I’ve learned to think less and create more, letting the work reveal itself to me.”
Joe Slack’S AVAILABLE ART
“Every cut, scrape, victory, loss, love, joke and regret finds its way into my work. It’s impossible to separate my life from the art.”
