JOEY BATES
Statement
My work is about tumult, change, and how we come through it. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest in the 80s and 90s, the echoes of the eruption of Mount St Helens - Lawetlat’la - lingered in the collective conscious. Despite the eruption having taken place a few years before my birth, it retained a weight and was recalled often. Hundreds of square miles were decimated, several people killed, and thousands of animals lost their lives as a result of the eruption. The area around the mountain had been covered in forest beforehand and, within less than a day, all of it was wiped away as a result of energy dispersal. In the preceding years the land was reformed, plants began to take root on a new surface of lava bed, and life began to return to the surrounds. There was growth and resilience. Flowers have a visual expression of energy dispersal. The seed eventually cracks to let through leaves and petals that expand, reach outward, bloom, and eventually shrivel and recoil and become part of the soil again. In that time they contribute to their ecosystems in terms of pollination, reseeding, and soil health. They exemplify addition, fertility, and natural life cycles. Flowers are a constant reminder that life persists. Paper is the medium I have chosen to express these organic materials. It is a pliable medium, often associated with frailty, but with the proper construction methods, a paper sculpture can be strong. As time passes, the core structure of each piece will stay in place while the leaves, tendrils, and free standing elements will eventually droop. These slight shifts over time coincidentally reinforce this idea of inevitable change. Many of my pieces are built on shapes and structures that reference volcanic explosions. The blooms depicted are a reminder that, if allowed, new experiences, new perceptions, new life can come from tumultuous moments in our lives. The explosions in my work used to reference a lot of tumult I experienced in my earlier life. I often struggled with expressing myself, especially when it came to strife. In recent years, the works have been a reminder that beautiful things have come about from great, overwhelming, confusing, shifts in life.
Education
2005 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI
Select Solo Exhibitions
2020 Continuing Explosions, Antler Gallery, Portland.
2019 Everything is Fleeting, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2018 Joey Bates at Curtis Steiner, Curtis Steiner, Seattle.
2014 Of Marrow and Leaf, Ghost Gallery, Seattle.
2012 Portraits & Nudes, Make.Shift, Bellingham.
2011 Plication, Gage Academy of Art, Seattle.
2011 Recent Explosions, Zeitgeist, Seattle.
2010 Works on Paper, Theater Schmeater, Seattle.
2010 Greenery, Explosions, Water, and Blood at Assemble Gallery, Seattle.
2009 New Works, Some Space Gallery, Seattle.
2009 Nudes, Zeitgeist, Seattle.
2009 Posed, Velouria, Seattle.
2008 Memorepresentation, Joe Bar, Seattle.
2008 Recent Works, Velouria, Seattle.
2008 New Drawings and Paintings, Some Space Gallery, Seattle.
2007 Paintings of Polaroids, Black Front Gallery, Olympia.
2007 People and Animals, Caffe Ladro of Lower Queen Anne, Seattle.
2006 Thousands of Lines, Caffe Ladro of Downtown, Seattle.
2006 Select Works, Habitude of Ballard, Seattle.
2005 Layers, The Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI.
Select Group Exhibitions
2025 Teckning, Steneby Konsthall, Dals Långed, Sweden.
2022 Group Exhibition, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2020 Art On Paper, Paradigm Gallery, New York.
2019 Art Toronto, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2019 Poison Garden, Antler Gallery, Porland.
2019 Papier Art Fair, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2019 pa•per, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia.
2018 Black and Noir, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2018 Papier Art Fair, Galerie Youn, Montreal.
2018 30 Years Later, Galleries 1988, LA.
2017 Sensory Overload, Corey Helford Gallery, LA.
2016 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Corey Helford Gallery, LA.
2015 Charismatic Megafauna, Roq La Rue, Seattle.
2015 Out Of Sight, King Street Station, Seattle.
2015 Ex Libris: 100 Artists 100 Books, Axis Gallery, Seattle.
2013 The Seattle Sketchbook Show, Gage Academy of Art
2013 Hybrids & Other Strange Amalgamations, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle.
2012 Rest in Paper, Lundgren Monuments, Seattle.
2012 Small Voids, Multi Artist Installation, Seattle.
2011 The Matryoshka Show, Ghost Gallery, Seattle.
2011 Ecotone, Ghost Gallery, Seattle.
2011 Gallery 206, Multi Artist Installation, Seattle.
2010 Recent Works, Caffe Vita of Capitol Hill, Seattle.
2010 20/20, Burien Community Center, Burien.
2009 Sound, Light, Repeat at 20Twenty, Seattle.
2008 The Macho Cheese Show, Joe Bar Café, Seattle.
2007 Water Wings, 20Twenty, Seattle.
2006 Distilled Spirit Gallery, San Francisco.
2005 Studio Excellence Award Show, Kendall College of Art and Design Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI.
Publications
2015 Define Magazine, Issue #1 Define:Fear, http://www.define-magazine.com/
2012 Transparent Magazine, Issue #5, Japan, http://www.transparent-mag.com/
2007 Rivet Magazine, Spot Illustration, Issue # 18, USA
Press
Grace Ebert “Drips of Colored Paper Accentuate the Intricate Details of Joey Bates’ Layered
Bouquets” Colossal, October 25, 2022
Matthew Burgos “The Detailed Floral Sculptures of Joey Bates” Beautiful Bizarre, October 20, 2022
Anonymous “untitled” Ballpitmag, May 19, 2020
Danielle Krysa “Joey Bates” The Jealous Curator, April 15, 2019
Samantha Quinn "The Process Behind the Piece: Joey Bates" Paper Artist Collective, July 17, 2016
Casey Webb "Interview with Cut Paper Artist Joey Bates" Jung Katz, March 31, 2016
Ann Martin “Cut Paper Relief - Joey Bates” All Things Paper, January 14, 2016