Joshua Dopp's Artist Statement

​Barriers surround us and define us. From our skin the fabric of life to the stone walls around our possessions. The edge or the border is the home of doubt and anxiety. At the threshold there is transformation and change, which our minds either comfortably confront or vigorously repel. I am very interested in duality and the tension or blurring of opposites. At what point does anything change? Where and when does chaos become ordered and ultimately at rest?

We live in an age of doubt and anxiety, a time of great pessimism where belief in our fellows and their intentions for society are continually questioned. It is more and more common to find people who cannot find absolutes in their understanding and, therefore, turn to social relativism. Where pessimism leaves off, apathy reigns. My approach to art reflects this pessimistic attitude but also tries to counter balance with optimistic elements and playful representations.

 The speed at which our lives work is getting faster and less stable everyday. Technology tries too hard to make our lives “better” and frequently it just makes things more complicated and less real. Sometimes it is the simple things which are able to speak volumes; or in their quietude transport us/the viewer to a more ethereal sublime state. When I find my work getting tangled up with issues and formalities of technological chaos I engage in work which I find more playful or hopeful to strike a balance. This approach sometimes produces enlightenment and at other times absurdity.