Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Joanne Ungar
Waxwork multi-panel wall installation, "Botox", Geometric Abstract Installation

2019

About the Item

Vivid emerald green, vibrant orange, and violet blue tones are created in Joanne Ungar's unique poured wax process, to create this multi-panel wall installation. 37"x54"x 1" pigmented wax, board, photograph, installed on welded metal backing brace (included) signed on reverse by artist, and COA. This wall piece is composed of 24 cast wax panels. The abstracted image imbedded in the work is a photograph of the packing for Botox treatments. Vivid emerald green, vibrant orange, and violet blue tones are created in Joanne Ungar's unique poured wax process. This large scale wax painting is a beautiful statement piece that is signed on reverse by the artist. In addition to the cosmetic applications of Botox, it is also used as a pain relief medication for migraine sufferers. The geometric abstract composition is created through the imagery of the folds from the boxed packaging. The grid is created and installed on a heavy duty welded metal back brace, with each of the twenty four wax panels fixed through high strength magnets and a metal bottom support. The gallery can arrange for installation as requested. This work is included in a solo exhibition of works by Joanne Ungar on view at the Front Room Gallery in New York. This solo exhibition features large scale pigmented waxworks which embed evidence of current available methods to relieve physical or mental suffering. All the artwork in this show contains boxes for products that deliver pain relief, items for either numbing ourselves or for altering our reality. Among these items are alchohol, OTC medications, Rx medications, confections, cosmetics, and digital toys. These poured wax paintings by Joanne Ungar are composed with the geometric forms of recycled packaging, and layered and infused with pigmented wax. Ungar's complex sense of color transforms base patterns through multiple luminous strata of graded hues, overlaid with controlled density to either obscure or reveal the accumulated layered color. Her luminous wax paintings are created with refined, purified beeswaxes and commercial grade paraffins with very high melting points, creating work that is archival and stable. Ungar’s work invites an innate introspection, with its bright colors and a reduced, yet complex palette. The look of the work belies the subject: pain relief. The sharp corners and graduated angles are reminiscent of early cubist works by Braque or Picasso. Their masterworks sought to create a three dimensional impression in a two dimensional space. Ungar’s work actually IS three dimensional. From the sidelong view one can see how deep the wax is, but frontally it is visually disorienting: sometimes the forms are right at the surface, but at times seem to fade into the distance. These physically encapsulated structures feel like landscapes, or often cityscapes with abstracted modular building forms getting sharper and fading in the distance. The wax has an inherent atmospheric tone, of sky, fog, or water. And the boxes themselves replete with repetition, angles on angles, do not readily divulge their humble origins. These pieces are cast in thick wax, and the depth is visceral. Joanne Ungar is an alchemist. Her studio is a science lab. A visitor to her studio will meet Joanne, with her friendly self-deprecating Midwestern demeanor, and then immediately will be overwhelmed by the stovetop coils, high tech ventilation, vice wrenches, plywood molds, complicated presses and saws, and the carcasses of discarded experiments orderly stacked and categorized. Ungar’s father was a scientist. When she was growing up he talked about how art and science were really one and the same thing: a methodical exploration of ideas crossed with joyous creativity and some random surprises. Built on these origins and continuing into an intense studio practice Ungar states: “I often set up “experiments” with variables and a control group in order to solve a problem of opacity or pigmentation, for example. I also like to push my materials beyond my understanding of them: seeing what happens when they melt; seeing what will stick to what and for how long; what happens to them at stupidly high temperatures. I am ridiculously methodically organized, and in addition to cataloging each piece, I sometimes catalog it through its various versions/changes.” This highly dedicated and rigorous studio practice creates astounding results that have transformed modest materials into ‘gold’. This exhibition explores the origins of constructed forms from recycled and repurposed packaging materials. The pain relievers themselves have been removed, yet the implication is present in the title of the works. Look close and investigate — Ungar is an expert in misdirection and illusion, and the barrier between the illusionary space and physical becomes blurred into a wholly new modality. Ungar is originally from Minneapolis. After studies at Oberlin College in Ohio she moved to New York City and earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. Joanne Ungar is a New York Foundation for the Arts NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program Grant recipient. Ungar has exhibited extensively in New York and nationally. Ungar currently works in Brooklyn, New York.
More From This SellerView All
  • "Johnnie Walker Black" waxwork multi-panel wall installation
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    Vivid oranges, violets, blue and golden yellow tones are created through Joanne Ungar's unique poured wax process in this multi-panel wall installation. 48"x59"x 1" pigmented wax, board, photograph, installed on welded metal backing brace (included) signed on reverse by artist, with a COA. This wall piece is composed of 24 cast wax panels, created in high quality archival materials. The abstracted image imbedded in the work is the open and unfolded form of a Johnnie Walker...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Wax, Wood Panel, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

  • "Acorn" geometric encaustic, cast wax collage
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    Joanne Ungar's unique process involves layering pigmented wax over cardboard forms to create a geometric composition of color. Ungar's process begins by the artist flattening three-...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Wax, Wood Panel, Cardboard, Pigment

  • "Ikea Alang" Encaustic Geometric Abstract painting in aqua, blue, yellow green
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    This cast wax wall panel painting contains blues in aqua and turquoise which blend into a gradient, with warm earth tones emerging amongst violet and yellow green undertones. 21"x3...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Wood, Wax, Cardboard

  • "Aleia's" Pigmented Waxwork
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    This poured wax painting by Joanne Ungar, is composed with the geometric forms of recycled packaging, layered and infused with pigmented wax. The blue and violet purple in this pigm...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Wood, Wax, Cardboard

  • Harry's
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    This poured wax painting by Joanne Ungar, is composed with the geometric forms of recycled packaging, layered and infused with pigmented wax. The violet, red tones fade to a yellow ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Wood, Wax, Cardboard

  • "Best Buy Baking Cups Small" Geometric Abstract Cast Wax Wall Painting, in green
    By Joanne Ungar
    Located in New York, NY
    This poured wax painting in green by Joanne Ungar, is composed with the geometric forms of recycled packaging, layered and infused with pigmented wax. A vibrant sculptural painting, ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Wax, Encaustic

You May Also Like
  • It's Springtime Somewhere in the World
    Located in Austin, TX
    "It's Springtime Somewhere In the World" is an abstract painting by Rebecca Sobin executed in oil, cold wax medium, and pastel powder, and rice paper on a cradled wood panel; measuri...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Wax, Oil, Wood Panel, Rice Paper, Graphite

  • Untitled No 63 Modern Abstract Composition
    By Michael David
    Located in Delray Beach, FL
    Untitled No 63, modern​ abstract composition 1987 Mixed media on wood panel, wax, oil, paper. Signed with initials, gallery label. Abstract painter Michael David is best known for his use of encaustic, a technique that incorporates heated beeswax and pigment. Considered an inheritor of Abstract Expressionism, David’s abstract work primarily centers on the use of a densely layered surface to facilitate a direct and immediate spiritual experience. He often incorporates religious iconography and symbolism, art historical themes such as the nude, and contemporary politics into his paintings resulting in a critical dialogue between the layered abstraction of the surface and the integrated representational imagery. Alongside his work on canvas, David has developed a body of studio photography that recreates paintings by Caravaggio, Manet, and Mantegna, among others, in works that confront racism, homophobia, and sexism. David also works in mixed media and environmental sculpture...
    Category

    1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Wax, Wood Panel, Oil

  • "Centinela", Acrylic on Wood Panel by Contemporary Artist, José Palacios, 2019
    By Jose Palacios
    Located in Madrid, ES
    JOSÉ PALACIOS Spanish, 1970 - CENTINELA signed "JOSÉ PALACIOS" (lower right) signed again "JAPALACIOS" (on the reverse) acrylic, spray, wax and graphite on wood panel 39-1/2 X 39-1/2 inches (100 X 100 cm.) unframed. CENTINELA A window to a park, or an important avenue of a large city can be a source of inspiration to create works of art. The behaviors of our peers give rise to creating stories that can be reflected in music, cinema and of course, in a painting. José Palacios was born in 1970. Influenced by the Spanish artists of the 80s belonging to the Madrid Movement, he began his artistic career linking the world of Painting and Illustration. Years later, Palacios developed a figurative style combining neo-cubism and pop art. His current work is based on a combination of abstraction with pop art winks made with a palette of refreshing and bold colors. His works are present in different private collections in Europe, United States and Asia. José Palacios work has been exhibited at Wanrooij Art Gallery (Amsterdam, Holland), Bridge Gallery (Beijing, China), Art Angler Gallery / New York, USA), Plastique Art Gallery (Madrid), Actual Arte Contemporáneo & Galería Luis Carvajal...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Mixed Media

    Materials

    Wax, Spray Paint, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Graphite

  • X-Ormation Series I
    Located in Nashville, TN
    "X-Ormation Series I" is an encaustic-on-panel piece by Charles Ivey from his "X-Ormation" series. Ivey uses the encaustic process of combining hot beeswa...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Resin, Wax, Encaustic, Wood Panel, Pigment

  • Chaos Theory #23
    Located in Nashville, TN
    "Chaos Theory #23" is an encaustic-on-panel piece by Charles Ivey from his "Chaos Theories" series. Ivey uses the encaustic process of combining hot beesw...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Resin, Wax, Encaustic, Wood Panel, Pigment

  • Wave & Particle #2
    Located in Nashville, TN
    "Wave and Particle #2" is is an encaustic-on-panel piece by Charles Ivey from his "Wave and Particle" series. Ivey uses the encaustic process of combinin...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Resin, Wax, Encaustic, Wood Panel

Recently Viewed

View All