The object is fixed; what we see is not. My work explores the nuances of perception through the transformative effects of light and space on materials. The dimensional structures I form are physical objects that remain unchanged, while our experience of them can shift with changing ambient light and the viewer’s position.
Mesh is my primary material. I am drawn to the near-invisible spaces between its strands—nanospace—too small to be seen as form yet essential to how light, color and depth are perceived. Light passes through these spaces and becomes part of the work itself—not represented, as in a painting, but physically present. As light encounters overlapping layers of mesh, it can create illusions of depth. Colors from the layers beneath remain visible through the mesh, creating optical blends and shifting relationships of color. As the viewer moves, moiré patterns can appear to move as well.
I am drawn to mesh not only for its optical possibilities but for the contradiction it holds: ethereal and translucent, yet strong enough to stand on its own or provide the structure to support a shape. This has led me to laminate mesh into sculptural forms and to work with it alone, free of canvas—extending its possibilities beyond light and color into structure and form.
Each work begins with an idea but evolves as I listen to the voice that arises from the blending of light, space, technique, and materials. My desire is to entice the viewer to investigate the secrets of perception: to look closer and to discover just how much the near-invisible can shape what’s seen.
Joan Konkel is a Washington, D.C.–based artist whose work explores the nuances of perception. Originally trained as a fine artist and sculptor, Konkel received her MFA from George Washington University. Her early practice expanded into experimental fashion, incorporating semi-precious metal into wearable garments. This work earned a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and was presented at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., where she received the Anni Albers Designer Award.
Over the past two decades, Konkel has developed a distinctive visual language informed by Constructivism, Op Art, and the Light and Space movement. Situated between painting and sculpture, her dimensional works use painted mesh and layered surfaces to investigate how light and space transform a fixed object into one with shifting relationships of color and depth. Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States and in U.S. ambassadorial residences in France and Albania. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art – DeLand, the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, and the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, as well as in private and corporate collections in the United States and internationally.