Joni Wildman is constantly on the run. The Brooklyn-based artist is known for her series of creative oil paintings featuring wildly colourful animals on the gallop, skip, hop, flight, to elsewhere. Her most recent series, ‘RUN!’, is an assemblage of fun animalia stuck in motion.
Her paintings do keep us guessing: what are these animals running from? Each painting is distinct but the entire collection can be seen as one big cohesive herd of animals escaping something or running towards a destination. They’ve also picked things up along the way: arrows, watches, fishing nets, grenades. More often than not, it appears the animals have fled a warzone, but perhaps that’s just the nature of the collision between nature and mankind.
We talk to Wildman more about her philosophy behind her work in this exclusive interview where. we run into some fascinating ideas and insights together.
Interview with Joni Wildman
What is your art history and background?
I started painting when I was 10 years old. My dad signed me up for art classes out of a local artist’s home studio in Jacksonville Florida. I apprenticed under her until I was 18 and started my BFA at Florida State. She loved Helen Frankenthaler and made gorgeous colour field paintings inspired by angels.
What mediums are you most interested in?
I bounce between oil, gouache and coloured pencil. They’re all painting mediums to me; it’s just how dirty or clean I want to be. Oil is used for big, fast paintings and layering in scrafito. Gouache is for bright, clean colours and sharp lines. Coloured pencils are great for moody paintings.
Who are some of your favourite artists or other influences?
I look a lot at Jana Brike and Laurie Hogin working now. In history, Egon Schiele has my heart. Those lines! Norman Rockwell is also a source of inspiration. You can really hear the story in his images.
It’s clear that you love nature; how does the natural world inspire you?
Nature is weird and fun to look at. I painted a sprouting potato for the RUN! series, and had to make sure there was enough visual context for the viewer to know it was a potato and not some alien object. I also have a degree in poetry, and the names in nature carry a lot of weight too. In just flowers, you have snapdragons, bluebells and bleeding hearts. There’s a lot to work with in just the names when I build narratives in my work.
What does a typical day look like for Joni Wildman?
I run an arts education nonprofit in NYC, so no two days are alike. A good day for me starts with frisbee in Central Park and coffee cuddles with my pup. A couple of hours of painting before noon feels good. Then, I spend time up at our school-based art programs. At home, I love to hyper-focus on crafty projects. I made a series of intricate paper wigs once and all my own Christmas ornaments while binging Golden Girls. Right now, I’m making an intricate rainbow sprinkles themed tile mosaic in my kitchen.
Your latest series is called “RUN!” What is the story behind this collection?
I feel chased by time. There’s so much I want to do and this constant danger that I won’t be able to do it all. These animals represent the fear and joy of living. They carry their stories with them—hints to where they came from and what they may be running toward. Sometimes, they are electrified or hunted. Sometimes they carry gifts or drag tangled burdens. Joy and danger tumble over themselves in me and in these paintings.
What was the most challenging part of this series?
Scale! I want elephants the size of elephants and bees the size of bees. When I imagined all these paintings in a room, I wanted the viewer to feel like they were in a wild carousel. Unfortunately, there are limitations on what I have space for, physically and in my available time.
Where does the magic happen? What does your art studio look like?
My studio is…tight. It is NYC after all. It’s a tiny space on the Upper West Side in between a healthcare nonprofit and an insurance salesman. I often work on only one or two paintings at a time. I don’t clean my palettes, so globs of colourful paint are piled high on rolling tables and tidy peg boards organising my paint tubes. It smells like linseed oil, and sounds like my latest sci-fi audiobook. Dennis E. Taylor is a favourite.
What is one lesson you’ve learnt this year that has helped your journey as an artist?
I have set some standardised sizes for my work this year and packed a “go-bag” of painting supplies for when I travel. It’s been great to work on vacation. It feels a lot less like work.
What’s next for Joni Wildman?
I’m still working on the RUN! paintings, and now also the HIDE and PLAY DEAD series. Survival is emerging as a theme. But yeah, the plan is to live in joy and paint ‘til I’m dead.
