Jose Joya (1931 - 1995)
Orange Memories
signed and dated 1978 (lower right and verso)
oil on board
14" x 22" (36 cm x 56 cm)


Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mr. Alexander RichardJoya Baldovino confirming the authenticity of this lot




With the advent of the seventies, Jose Joya moved on to new areas of experimentation which were extensions of the variations that were crystallized in the sixties. Having come back from late 1960s New York with a kind of style that appeared to be a regrouping of his abstract masses, Joya’s 1970s works showed a retrenchment of his older sensibility of “breaking loose” in favor of abstract masses, likewise in favor of order and balance, as against the almost orgiastic abandon of his action painting days. The new concern did not however sacrifice the artist’s delight in paint for their own sakes. Cid Reyes asked Joya in 1973: “Who were some of the artists you met in New York?” Joya answered: “I met Mark Rothko personally, and I visited Robert Motherwell in his studio where I spent an afternoon with him. Helen Frankenthaler, his wife then, was there too. I also met the Japanese artist Kuniyoshi, who’s based in New York. The other artists I met at opening nights at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Jewish Museum.” Joya’s paintings continued to affirm his mastery of gestural paintings. Juxtaposed forms, simultaneously advance and recede, creating subtle tension and complex rhythms. Sometimes the images burst out to lush vibrant colors, creating haphazard planes. His layers of overlapping colors, inflected with texture, suggest uncharted terrains of the imagination.