Joanna Braithwaite: Juggling Reality

Abstract

"Joanna Braithwaite's paintings present juxtapositions of reality and the absurd. Her painting style is imbued with traditional techniques - richly layered oil paintings, with looses brushwork reminiscent of the Dutch masters of the 17th century. While the subject matter contained in her paintings diverges from that of the traditional, characters from the fringe of society who capture Braithwaite's attention fill the canvas. They are engaged in unusual acts that are normalised by the artist's rendering of them - a circus clown with half a dozen dogs bulging out of his over-sized novelty pants, a donkey balancing an impossible amount of fruit in baskets on its back, Catholic nuns zooming through the street on mobility Segways ..."