Late Summer, Monotype, 20×26″, 2022. Combo of relief, drypoint, and chine colle elements. Burning Trestle, Monotype, 15×21″, 2022. Transition and change, and the conflagration that is memory and existence. Library of Babel, Monotype, 42×30″, 2022. Inspired by a Jorge Luis Borges short story about set theory and infinity. Chair with Small Ghost Chair, 2021. Featuring elements of Trace Monotype, Resist, Viscosity during 3 separate layers.“No one, I think, is in my tree..” That wasn’t on my mind when I made this, but I just watched the “Get Back” movie, so I couldn’t help it. “Tree with Moonrise”, Monotype, 2021This monotype is one of several ghosts and variants I created from a trace monotype image I did in 2021. The chair imagery is simple, but lends itself to multiple treatments and suggests to me a state of being in the present, with the asterisk suggesting more info to come, or in other words, change. It’s about presence. Foothills Autumn, Monotype, 22×21″, 2019The Turning, Monotype, 30×22″, 2019.
Monotypes: A monotype is a one of a kind print. I paint ink on a plate and run it through a hand press. Along the way, I distress the image or otherwise manipulate the ink. My pictures deal with the vexations of making connections of the spirit. The images are representational, but also conceptual and symbolic. I use distressed landscapes as a metaphor for the uncertainties of life, or interiors to express ineffable messages of the heart.
I also do polymer etchings and sketch, and you will see those in a separate portfolio.
“Rain In Bramble”, Monotype, 11×15″, 2018 Tree of Life in Vacant Garden, Monotype, 30×22″, 2018. I enjoyed layering the colorful Mylar shapes to create a sense of abundance yet loss. I’m hoping to go in a different direction when I go back into the studio later this Summer. Sold “Gloaming”, Monotype, 2018, 20×26″. Combines draw, stenciled and trace monotype elements.
“Blue Heaven”, Monotype, 21×15″, 2017. Sold.
Untitled monotype, 13x 19″, 2017. $325 Unframed “Red Place”, Monotype, 2016, 20×13″ $325. It was built on a leafy yellow ghost image, with the green being a second layer, and the red being a final layer to highlight the negative/positive dichotomy of the chair. There is a sense, to me, that being “present” or truly in a “place” sometimes requires one to empty the mind. $ Unframed.
“Forrester’s Day Dream”, Monotype, 13×19″, 2014. $275, Unframed.
“Earth and Sky”, Monotype, 20×26″, 2015. Private Collection.
Monotypes: A monotype is a one of a kind print. I paint ink on a plate and run it through a hand press. Along the way, I distress the image or otherwise manipulate the ink. I also do polymer etchings and sketch, and you will see those here as well.
Joe Higgins Monotypes “Fallen Angel” 2013. The same mylar “character is used in different “roles” in many monotypes of this series. Private Collection. Joe Higgins Monotypes “Eve’s Kiss; Eden Burns” 2013. Using color tonalities and repeated shapes to create visual complexity. “Blue Maenad” 2013. A somewhat lost and subdued Maenad. “Blue Ghost”. 2013. A “ghost” is a second impression of a monotype plate, usually featuring softer, fainter inks and sometimes with added new elements. Jacob + Angel, 2013, Monotype, 22×30″ From my latest gallery show at Zip 37. I had been taken with Emily Dickinson’s several poems on the subject, but also saw a contemporary commentary in the reversal of roles: it’s the man who wears the Hijab in this scenario.
Room in Remembrance, Monotype 15×21″, 2010 Tree House, Monotype 15×21″, 2010 Immortality, Monotype 15×21″, 2011. From a 2012 gallery show inspired by poetry by Emily Dickinson. Newcomers, Monotype 15×21″, 2011
3 replies on “Portfolio”
hi Joe, I enjoy your website.
Thanks, Catherine! I’m learning as I go, but enjoying it more and more.
3 replies on “Portfolio”
hi Joe, I enjoy your website.
Thanks, Catherine! I’m learning as I go, but enjoying it more and more.
This is an awesome portfolio