Joey Korom | Artist Profile Photo
Joey Korom
Chicago, Illinois
Artist Joey Korom paints abstract expressionist pieces and has been a practicing artist for 50 years. I make art that is purely optical—art meant to engage the eye and the mind of the viewer without employing any associations outside of the work itself, says Joey. His educational and professional background in architecture inspires him and informs his current visual arts practice. The use of line, shape, and proportion in Joey’s work is visibly influenced by his work experience, but he avoids the rigidity involved in structural draftsmanship. He focuses instead on underlying structure, seductive color, and loose brushwork. Joey sees his style as a personal liberation from the demands of architectural drawing, and yet, he never lost the disciplines he was taught. He works from his home studio, a clean and organized space, and listens to classical or jazz music. He stores his finished works in an adjacent room—a three-seasoned porch that holds up to sixty pieces at a time. Outside of painting, Joey is an architectural photographer, writer, and architectural historian.
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Artist Statement

As a mid-career artist, I have decided to pursue abstraction as my preferred method of visual communication. For close to twenty-five years I have drawn upon my education and professional background in architecture for inspiration when composing a painting; intuition is primary—then media, proportions, colors, textures, and careful execution determine the final result. I make art that is purely optical—that is, an art meant to engage the eye and the mind of the viewer without employing any associations outside of the work itself; the viewer is introduced to abstraction arrived at only by the paint on the canvas. My work is purely retinal, that is, it is a rejection/renunciation of narrative, extraneous arcane meanings, or contrived connections. I embrace special interests in art history, architectural history, design theory, composition, and critique. I draw inspiration from early modernism, especially from the abstract expressionist work produced during the mid-twentieth century. My work continues to be subconsciously influenced by the compositional subtleties inherent in the work of the Cubist, Constructivist, and Bauhaus movements. Abstract Expressionism, particularly the work of Motherwell, Frankenthaler, Hoffman, and Hartigan, does indeed enter into my oeuvre; the architectural masterpieces produced by Mies van der Rohe, Graham, and Wright also play a part. Architectural composition and the discipline of hand-drawing were not confined only to the classroom, but were practiced professionally. My drawing skills include the ability to construct axonometric and isometric views, one, two and three-point perspectives, worm’s-eye and bird’s-eye views, and of course building plans, sections, and elevations. Graphite, charcoals, inks, and colored pencils were employed by me to great precision. As an artistic foil, as a creative release from that precisionist work, I have devoted myself to an expressive type of abstraction, to an artistic mode devoid of the rules of perspective drawing, to codes, and to gravity. What remains is an art of underlying structure, seductive color, and a loose brush. I employ my art as a sort of personal liberation from the demands of architectural drawing, and yet, I never completely lose the disciplines that I have been taught.

Artist Background

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Bachelor of Arts, 1989
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Master of Architecture, 1992
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