Photographs don’t quite capture what Joan Konkel does. The Georgetown based metal sculptor creates surprisingly dynamic works by painting, twisting, and layering wire mesh in ways that trick and please the eye. “I work in microspace,” Konkel says – that is, the space between the layers of the mesh. In her studio she has files full of painted wire mesh – cadmium red, phthalo blue, viridian – and she’ll play for hours just learning what the different layers of colored grids do to each other. Placing one grid over another at an angle creates a moiré pattern that appears as a kind of shadow. Twisting and angling the mesh manipulates the pattern, as does simply walking past it or squinting. Colors also have unplanned effects on each other – by layering one over another, the bottom layer may almost disappear, but by adding a third, the bottom layer shines through. “It’s exciting,” she says. Konkel trains light to do what she wants, but the light continues to change even within that structure to marvelous effect.
In looking at one of a triptych called Three Sisters, layers of deep blue metal create a rich, dark sheen like the look of a wet, oily road in the sun. As Konkel puts it, “you can get lost in there for hours.” It’s true.
