JoWonder, born Joanna Woodward, is a British painter, avant-garde stopmotion animator, performance artist and writer. They are noted for being from a generation of British avant-garde animators such as Brothers Quay and Phil Mulloy.

Their work brings concepts from postmodern literature, the surrealist movement, and contemporary art to cinema. Their films, which use collage, puppets, textured painting, and text, provide a counterpoint between the metaphysical and the playful. Lilliputian characters are often introduced to an apocalyptic realm ruled by giants. Jo's work combines: their own literature, religious, political, fairy-tale, and scientific themes using satire and symbolism.[1][2]

Animated films

In 1990 their animated film The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp[3] using stop frame animation, and featuring performance artist Rose English, won the Grand Prize at Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film, the Direction Award for best first animated film at the British Animation Awards[4] and the Time Out Film Award. It was also a part of Between Imagination and Reality,[5] a programme of film and video selected by Tilda Swinton.

Video installation

In 2007, their video installation Flatlanders, expressing a judgement of the scale of ambition of science at CERN,[6] was featured in Guildford Cathedral in connection with a science debate organised by Surrey University called Is science the new religion? attended by Jim Al-Khalili and Dr Brian Cox. The subject was based around the nuclear experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

One of their ongoing projects is 6 Days Goodbye Poems Of Ophelia,[7] research funded by The Wellcome Trust[8] and with a microbiology input by Dr Simon Park[9] of Surrey University. Under The Microscope[10] is an interpretation of Ophelia painted out of bacteria that incorporates messages to Ophelia from the public as part of the soundscape.[11]

Performances

Their avant-garde performance art has included working within the experimental the Washroom Collective,[12] which typically involves improvisation and audience interaction.

  • 2012, MayJoWonder and the Psychic Tea Leaves, a site-specific 45-minute performance in the tradition of a Victorian seance, using the supernatural as subject performed at the belfry of St Johns on Bethnal Green, part of First Thursdays organised by Whitechapel Art Gallery.[13]
  • 2019, September, The Woven Plait of Beatrice a part of a site-specific event The Woven with seven multidisciplinary artists and musicians inspired by the unique heritage of St Leonard's, Shoreditch. 2020 further developed as an experimental performance video.[14]
  • 2023, site-specific piece as a part of 'L'Age d'Or', a contemporary surrealist group exhibition, curated by Iranian born Baharak Dehghan , to celebrate the film L'Age d'Or directed by Luis Buñuel in collaboration with Salvador Dali The film explores themes such as: humanization, destruction, confusion, passion, fear, oppression and isolation. JoWonder’s performance took place over the weekend of the coronation of Charles III in the Uk; incorporating a mock coronation of Street Artist Rolling Fool, dressed in a monkey costume. The exhibition brought together forty international artists to reflect on the question: What would Buñuel’s L'Age d'Or look like today?[15]

Filmography

  • 1980 The Grid starring Peter Murphy (musician). A New Contemporaries Prize Winner 1981, painting shown the same year.[16]
  • 1985 The Hump Back Angel[17]
  • 1989 The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp (short) - NFTS.[18] Live action and stop frame puppet animation: with performance artist Rose English
  • 1992 Sawdust for Brains and the Key of Wisdom[19] (short) - Channel 4 Television[20]

Media appearances

  • State of the Art - Channel 4, 1993[21]

Selected exhibitions

Curated exhibitions

  • JoWonder curated an exhibition on the theme of Schrödinger's cat in 2022, with help from a Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Physics which included 21 visual artists at the Bookery Gallerie, London.[24][25][26]

References

  1. ^ "feature: jowonder". SURGING TIDE. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  2. ^ "The Abduction of the Sleeping Prime Minister | IT". internationaltimes.it. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  3. ^ The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp
  4. ^ British Animation Awards
  5. ^ Between Imagination And Reality
  6. ^ The New Future blog article on Flatlanders
  7. ^ "6 Days Goodbye Poems Of Ophelia". Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  8. ^ "The Wellcome Trust Sciart 2006". Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  9. ^ Dr Simon Park
  10. ^ Under The Microscope
  11. ^ Microbial Art
  12. ^ The Washroom Collective
  13. ^ Jowonder And The Psychic Tea Leaves
  14. ^ "The Woven Part 2. (The Storyteller)". YouTube.
  15. ^ a b https://lagedorevent.com/about
  16. ^ "Peter Murphy stars as 'The Dead' in the experimental Super 8 film 'The Grid,' 1980". DangerousMinds. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  17. ^ The Hump Back Angel
  18. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Brooch Pin And The Sinful Clasp. YouTube.
  19. ^ Sawdust for Brains And The Key Of Wisdom
  20. ^ Sawdust For Brains And The Key of Wisdom. YouTube. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
  21. ^ "State of the art - Channel 4 - 1993". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  22. ^ [1]
  23. ^ a b [2]
  24. ^ "Bookery Gallerie".
  25. ^ "IOP".
  26. ^ "British Women Artists".
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoWOnder
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