SARAH JONCAS “UPON ANOTHER SHORE”
Hailing from Toronto, Sarah Joncas makes a highly anticipated return to Thinkspace Project, her artistic roots tracing back to her debut there in 2009 at the tender age of 19. Over the intervening years, her craftsmanship has evolved both technically and conceptually, earning global recognition for its atmospheric stylization and emotional resonance. Joncas is now set to unveil Upon Another Shore, her most recent array of works predominantly featuring female subjects who serve as surrogate identities or metaphorical proxies, illuminating social, psychological, and personal issues.
In this exhibition, figurative art takes on a deeper role, becoming a tool for exploring existential and constructivist concerns, providing a framework to imply narratives and insinuate symbolism. Joncas continually seeks to instill an unsettling atmosphere or a sense of tension in her pieces, imbuing them with an air of melancholy and high drama to elicit strong emotional reactions.
Joncas' ability to masterfully blend elements of high precision, such as the richly rendered skin tones achieved with oil paints, with the striking contrast of a more graphic aesthetic realized in acrylics, creates a visually arresting tension. This juxtaposition between realistic three-dimensional space and flattened stylization acknowledges her grounding in illustration and animation. Her early fascination with animé, manga, and elements of neo-noir cinema has undeniably shaped Joncas' predilection for character-driven pieces.
Her protagonists are frequently portrayed in situations of heightened emotional intensity, hinted at being part of a broader narrative or seemingly caught in the suspenseful maelstrom of unclear or hidden unfolding events. This inclination towards narrative intrigue, mystery, and symbolism is encapsulated in moments of dynamic tranquility, where action is both inferred and arrested. The complementary components in Joncas' pieces, be they animals, objects, or patterns, take on associated meanings, amplifying the overarching thematic suggestions of her body of work.