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Joanna Tlok
Light & Shadows

After years of work as a professional artist and teacher in Poland, Joanna Tlok immigrated to the United States with her husband, Marek, and their children. Today, Joanna's work with its simple message has found a place in many prestigeous American collections.

While Tlok’s paintings are figurative, color and light are, in fact, her true subject matter. In her examinations of fabric, she finds gratification in bringing us uncommon studies of the commonplace. Fabric is so ubiquitous and plays such a huge role in everyday life that people seldom take the time to appreciate its visual qualities and its interplay with light. This is what Tlok shows to us by making simple fabric the subject of thoughtful painting, and she hopes that her work will encourage people to notice the beauty of simple things in their everyday surroundings.

Artist's Statement
"Simple things bring unlimited richness to our lives. Because they are so commonplace, however, we tend to limit our vision of them and lose the pleasure and profundity they offer us. Often it is necessary to enshrine everyday things in the form of art before people will give them the attention they deserve. Putting them in the traditional place of venerated objects can make people notice and respect them in ways that they never would in daily life.

One of the simple things we spend little time appreciating is light, and especially the way it acts on ordinary things in our surroundings. My work focuses on the interplay of light with everyday materials such as fabric whose aestetics we often overlook. We wear it, we clean things with it, we cover things with it, drop food on it, sleep on it, but we seldom give it the notice it deserves.

Fabric is intimate with light, but it does not let light force its will on it. Light can play on it, and sometimes through it. Fabric generally defines light’s game by its own surface. Silks send light off in an exciting shimmer, while rougher weaves give a softer image that can be subdued yet more profound. If there is a simple message to my work, it is, “Look!” at my art, but let the art lead you to look at life. Go back to my inspiration and make it your inspiration. Really knowing simple things can change everything."

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