Untitled

Joanna Beall Westermann's untitled gouache painting functions as a Surrealist-inspired dreamscape. Featuring an array of human figures (and parts thereof), along with buildings, Christian symbols, stars, and what appears to be a flaming car, the scene is oddly coherent despite its enigmatic elements. Using flattened pictorial space and a surface of gestural brushstrokes in cool blues and grays punctuated by warmer tones of brown and pink, Westermann draws the viewer into her fantasy world. But this is a world of familiar objects and figures, recalling human dreams that invite individualized interpretations. Westermann cites the art of Marc Chagall and Henri Mattise as major influences on her own practice.