Both Pamela Joseph and Rob Brinker have had prior solo exhibitions at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, but this is the first time their work will be displayed together in a two-person show. For over 25 years, they have shared a studio, so it is perhaps inevitable that, over time, their work would come to share related aesthetic sensibilities. It was recently suggested that they attempt to work together on the same work of art, a challenge they wholeheartedly accepted, and the result is something they call “hybrids.” These works display characteristics of each artist’s inherent style, yet the combination creates an entirely new and distinctively different work of art (so much so that they consider these works made by an entirely independent artist they call “Joseph Brinker”).
The catalogue texts were written by another couple—Larry Litt and Eleanor Heartney—both in entirely different styles. Litt’s text presents a fanciful narrative in the style of his Mad Monk series, where the monk meets an artist-couple working together and envies their affection and camaraderie. Heartney presents a fairly straightforward discussion of the similarities and differences between the work of these two artists (who also happened to be their close friends), determining that their collaboration has added an entirely new dimension to their work.
In addition to the “Hybrids,” also on display are works that each artist created independently, and visitors to the gallery are invited to determine for themselves if the fusion of their independent styles was successful.
