Testimonials
*"As a New York interior designer, I strive to find art that transforms a space from beautiful to extraordinary. Joan Seed’s work achieves that instantly.
When I acquired limited editions of How I Behave During an Emergency and Anatomical Garden, I knew they would resonate with my clients. The retro-futurist collage, biting humor, and layered symbolism are magnetic — guests can’t help but pause, ask questions, and engage.
For collectors and design professionals, Joan’s art offers more than décor: it’s a cultural statement, a rare balance of intellectual edge and visual allure. Each piece elevates the interiors I create into spaces with true character and sophistication."*
— Alexandra Carter, Interior Designer, NYC
Interview with Artsheep.com
Joan is fascinated with human flaws. Flaws are a gateway to authenticity. In staging vintage printed material, her quest for authenticity invariably leads her to irony.
Joan’s advertising years have left an indelible mark all over her work. For 20 years, as a creative in the industry, her job was to sell dreams. She worked extensively in print media creating concepts for clients in retail, travel and banking. In advertising, selling dreams in magazines is close to scenography in that the images are extensively staged.
When Joan creates a collage, she tries to imagine the canvas as a small theatre stage. The scenes are set with elements from old printed material.
The people, or actors occupying the stage, are harvested out of printed material from another era - usually mid century. To some extent, they are used like puppets or dolls once the stage is set. In fact, one could say Joan is playing with dolls, and sometimes the dolls get out of hand.
Interview With Joan Seed By Artsheep.com:
Can you tell us what initiated this artwork and what inspired you?
Drawing goop, drips, peeling and melting matter is a beautiful challenge for me. I love the idea of capturing the process of nature reclaiming culture over a period of time. While some parts of the drawing look deflated and sagging, the red dripping can also be perceived as blood. I’ve even had some people comment that the white dripping was evocative of semen. Talk about porn culture! I love hearing all kinds of interpretations. Each interpretation is unique. You know you’ve created art when you see you’ve touched people at the core of what makes them unique.
What can you tell us about the symbolism in this image?
I made this artwork in direct reference to the Mueller investigation into Russian collusion.
In a way, I was trying to illustrate the limited life cycle of Trumps legitimacy. The porn culture reference makes complete sense when one refers to Trump. Ironically, I view his involvement with Stormy Daniels as his only contribution to American culture.
I have always been anti-Trump. I could have drawn a caricature of him but I vowed to never replicate his likeness in any way. Instead I’m inclined to do everything I can to unsee him. I’d rather concentrate on depicting the effect he has had on society and on the institutions Americans hold dear. I wish America integrity and vision for the 2020 election. 20/20 vision for 2020.
It may seem trivial, but why did you illustrate dripping rather than use an actual photo of dripping?
I opted for a line rendering of the dripping to add irony to the image. A felt marker drawing is always an interpretation. A line drawing carries information that the eye reads like words on a white page. I wanted to emphasize the fact that this image was derived from observation and that it is a concept. Dripping and melting are the opposite of growing and evolving. I think we get a better sense of that due to the way the image is treated.
In your image, you want us to see not one but two stars. Can you explain that to me?
Yes, there are in fact 2 stars superimposed in this image. One in the foreground and one in the background. The white star surrounded by blue and red is a symbol of the American flag and the free world. However, one can clearly see a red star peaking out. There is a sharp, red, pointed tip that sticks out like a dagger dripping with blood. That star was intended as a symbol of Russia. It is a reference to the five towers of the Moscow Kremlin that are topped with pentagonal red stars.
The blood was meant to symbolize Russia’s involvement namely in the Syrian Civil War, the Venezuelan crisis and North Korea. Supplying nuclear weapons to support oppression and conflict is only the tip of the red bloody star.
What has the reaction been so far?
I’ve had a very positive reaction to this image. Friends of mine who wore this on a t-shirt have reported getting many inquisitive looks. People are naturally drawn to the artwork and try to understand what it means. Stars are not supposed to melt.
Preface
Global Warming
Is anything more important than the future of our planet? In 2019 Joan worked on a collection dealing with Global Warming. In the Tomorrow collage, the statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building are swept away by what seems to be a tsunami. Joan loves New York and this is an expression of one of her nightmares. New York would, in fact, be flooded if the polar ice caps melted completely. That should take 30 years according to some scientific estimates.
“Evolution” depicts a gas pump being injected in a person’s head. At first glance, the gas pump looks like a revolver. Is it suicide or murder? All we know is that it is death by over consumption of fossil fuels.
With over 2000 likes on Instagram, the most memorable collage in the Global Warming theme is Warming Filter.
In Warming Filter, The palette varies from dark forest greens to aquas, sages, celadon and emerald greens. These colours are reminiscent of paintings by Courbet and Renoir depicting seashores.
Atmosphere
There’s an overall feeling of peace similar the atmosphere of a cottage, near a lake, at twilight.
In this serene setting, one can see the Statue of Liberty emerging from the water.
The notion of calm in the midst of catastrophe is a metaphor of human complacency in the face of impending doom. Interview with Artist Joan Seed.
“Evolution”
Death
“Tomorrow”
Joan has a love hate relationship with life. Over the years she has come to realize that knowledge is a blessing but also a curse. Staying positive requires a strategy in this age of Black Mirror. A creative expression of death is one of the most soul searching forms of art throughout history. Joan contemplates her own death everyday and feels like everybody should. That allows an individual to savour life and every passing moment.
Death can be positive when it is the passing of something that was bad. “I love going to funerals of people I used to hate” reads one fortune cookie. When death leads to renewal and rebirth, it’s like turning a page or even ending a painful chapter. Joan has had plenty of painful chapters in her life.
Mob Funeral was meant to show certain aspects of funerals rites in the Italian mafia community. The collage combines a vintage tomato paste ad and a journalism photo of an actual mafia funeral from the 60s. The peaceful expression on the face of the arch-typical Italian
Graphic Mixologist
The retro collage summons a dialogue between the past and the present. When images circulated five decades ago are resurrected, they inevitably show how they’ve held up through time. Values change - truths reveal lies - in some cases, the images almost come across as prophecies. Like the silent message in tarots cards or a Voynich Manuscript of sorts, the past foretells the future.
“As an artist, I sometimes get the impression an image is actually speaking to me. I can almost hear the voice of the woman in the cigarette ad telling me to unmask her client.” Joan Seed
The collages are tableaux that have a story. Recognizing familiar symbols being recontextualized can be destabilizing. Every symbol the eye picks up is desperately trying to tell you a story. The colours have a story to tell also. But interpretations are as individual and unique as the spectator. It’s a spectatorship of journey not destination.
Symbols are a way humanity has invented in order to stay connected. The heavy use of symbolic images in advertising speaks volumes.
Sex
There is no denying that sex is also a gateway to authenticity. Joan is sex positive. Her positive take on sex is meant to empower women sexually. Gay men also resonate very well with her brand of humour. Her memes are usually a reflexion of life in the city - again with disillusionment as a common denominator.
Eroticism is also an important component in the collages. From a darker perspective, sexual exploitation is expressed in various collages. The Hitchhiker, Happy Spring and the Job Interview.
The lighter side of Joan’s work can be grouped in what are called “Fortune Cookies”. They are actually made using one consistent recipe: a retro image and a text in 2 different fonts.
The “Fortune Cookies” chronicle every aspect of urban life behind the scenes. Well disguised wisdom emerges. The idea is to convey a joke or an ironic statement by using an innocuous sentence and perverting its meaning. With a simple text edit, the meaning is changed. Hundreds of memes have been created with the same recipe. As a creative way to illustrate a disjointed reality, it has made people laugh all over the globe. The language may seem colourful perhaps even crude. In Joan’s world, all words are allowed.
An entire group of “Fortune Cookies” falls in a category called “Mule Chronicles”. These memes explore mind boggling ways in which people try to make fast money by smuggling substances. Most are fictional and all are hilariously dark. They often make people realize they’re not having such a bad day after all. In an age of airport hyper security, the goal was to diffuse the anxiety of going through security.
Cocktail Casualty
Innocence Lost
They say hindsight is 20/20 but do we even pay attention once it’s history?
“My research into 60s printed media is a bit of an archeological dig. I discover clues about the time of my parents.” The 60s were a time of promise. The American Dream seemed within reach. Looking at advertising from that era makes us nostalgic of the affluence enjoyed by the middle class. As a product of a 60s household, Joan wants to set the record straight. Under the polished facade of the suburban home lies a truth begging to be revealed.
The suburbs are an exercise in conformity. Uniformity and conformity can create the impression of connection with others. Yet conformity is also foster homophobia, racism and many other forms of discrimination.
Johnson’s Asbestos
Conclusion
Catastrophes, disasters and scandals are some of the basic building blocks of what make the news. They fuel the work of Joan Seed who likes to show us where we are and how we got there. Human beings rarely show their authentic selves. Peeling away the layers, removing the retouching and appreciating the flaws gives the artist insight. With the passing of years - decades, masks fall off and a certain truth is revealed about the human condition. Human connection transcends space and time. Everything we see is warped by how we feel about our personal experience on this planet.
Fortune Cookies
“Warming Filter”