Satish Joshi - About

Artist Statement

For the past 50 years, my artistic practice has been one of experimentation, breadth, and depth. I work with equal facility in painting, printmaking and sculpture, defying the often-held expectation that an artist can master just one medium. My mind and hands are instruments of ceaseless creation: they paint, they pull handmade prints, they sculpt. 

At the start of my career, financial necessity pushed me to explore inexpensive, readily-available materials and tools. I poured ordinary glue onto an unremarkable piece of plywood, drew a pattern, and pulled a “mono-print” by hand. This early, simplistic technique led to a signature process which I have refined over the years. My monoprints employ this technique, and I can pull an infinite series of entirely individual prints from one plate. Each print can be displayed independently, or grouped together as a suite of harmonious and nuanced tonal explorations.  . I create my paintings with a manipulation of modeling paste mixed with gesso and oils, creating soft planes and sculpted forms on a 2-dimensional substrate of canvas or wood. My paintings and monoprints are visual complements to each other, as their layered looks explore the interaction of light, texture and color.  

Expanding upon what I had learned by building up and carving out surfaces through my printmaking and painting work, I taught myself to sculpt free-standing works. I welded steel and found objects together to create several indoor and outdoor sculptures. I learned to carve stone to produce alabaster, marble and limestone pieces that ranged in size from small tabletop objects to a 15’ tall torso and a 12’ reclining nude. Notable commissions include several  monumental limestone and marble sculptures and a 30’ found-object metal wall.

Although I work with a variety of techniques and materials, my approach and considerations are consistent. My core explorations include the appearance of light emitting from within the composition, the interaction and modulation of planar surfaces (in both 2- and 3-dimensions), and the varied forms, textures, and phenomena that exist in the natural world.

Satish works in his Yonkers, New York studio.
Photography by: Joseph Giunta, Michelle Jacobs, John O’Donnell, Bob Porsche
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