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Art of Our modern landscape
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Welcome to the official Joelle Provost website. Thank you for taking the time to visit.
This website is for the eyes, but also for the mind.
Since I was a young adult, I cared deeply about the environment and its inhabitants. I’ve also always been an artist. When we transition into adulthood, we see that settling into one’s path takes a deep intention to cultivate. In my late twenties I decided to merge these two passions; my love for the environment and my need to paint. Born out of this collision are simply two categories; land homages, or landscapes, and works that challenge the mind of the consumer to consider their placement on earth.
As an Optimist deeply interested in Environmental Prosperity, My interest lies in addressing climate change and related matters from an emotional standpoint, to pierce to the heart. This is because I believe that the only way out is through.
The Landscapes I make hold greater meaning in the age of climate change, as these places depicted are threatened by human activity. Other works address challenging external issues related to human activity here on planet A, while others aim to inspire hope, reminding the viewer that we can collectively change our fate and the fate of other species.
Artist Statement
In her recent works Joelle searches for the tone of our distinct present, as she feels there is a hollowness that pervades. Her works keep in mind our environmental crisis in hopes to find that which is still sacred. Often Joelle looks to recent past centuries to illuminate what charm existed then, with the potential of transporting that same romantic spirit to our present. The objective through her works is to provide an authentic emotional account of our present, forgoing ideals of ascension to human perfection or attempts at avoiding current circumstances.
Commission History
One summer, I went to see the William Turner Show at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. On the Biographical Wall Text Account of Turner, it said that he sold drawings as commissions to pay for his career as painter. After reading these words about Turner i wrote in my diary that I wanted to sell drawings like “hot cakes”; in other words, I wanted the drawings to sell easily and fluidly, and they did! I made hundreds of drawings of off the grid cabins and anything my patrons would like. I sold them online, on the subways, on the streets. It started with drawings, and then resulted in painting commissions to friends in Manhattan and Sweden and countless other places. Commissions are extraordinary because each relationship with the client is fresh, unique. These commissions have allowed me to shoot for bigger goals like featuring my work abroad in Tokyo (2019) or my current ambition to commemorate beached gray whales by making a Whale Sarcophagus that will exist as a public installation in San Francisco in the future.