Otto and Nico
Oil on Canvas 24" x 20"
1996
An impossible meeting of German cultural icons who have had a profound influence on Joe's life and work. Otto Dix the painter best known for his brutally frank treatment in Art of his Great War experiences, and Christa Paffgen- better known as "Nico", child of the World War that followed. Model, Fellini starlet and Warholian superstar chanteuse, her life became consumed as much by heroin as by her inimitable music of penetrating somberness, horror and beauty. Joe places them together in a brothel setting, Nico, aging, her beauty faded, sitting on the lap of Dix, represented in his youth. Around them the sad ghosts of Dix's Germany from whose dust Nico would, in real life, grow.
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Available for purchase.
Paintings
The foundation of Joe's work. In painting, Joe discovered the possibilities for visual communication and the greatest historical inspiration. His canvasses are largely earlier works, though he will return from time to time to paint on panels or found surfaces.
