Joseph Drapell: 14 Women

Fourteen Meditations on a theme of Liberty

Sappho Unanswered, 2024, acrylic, rhinestones, holographic additives, 48 x 36 in

Joseph Drapell: 14 Women

Champagne Opening & Book Launch: Saturday, October 5, 2024, 7-9 pm
Everyone welcome | RSVP to info@jamesrottmanfineart.com
Museum of New, Toronto

Joseph Drapell celebrates the achievements of women and the freedom they carved out for themselves. A refugee in Canada, he fled the Soviet occupation of his country in order to develop his art in the intellectual liberty of the West. His life-long dedication to the art of painting resulted in earning a reputation as a “painter’s painter” who often engages timeless themes. This special project required Drapell to design angled frames with 23-carat gold leaf.

Instead of slowing down at the age of 84, the artist took the greatest artistic risks of his career, combining rhinestone outlines of his nudes with the novel painting style he is known for. The artist found a place of mystical power in Georgian Bay with the people of the First Nations residing there. Casting this project in our galaxy, the holographic particles evoke the stars of the Milky Way. Half of the works use the sun’s edge as a main field, while the other half uses our planet’s edge. Drapell floats his favorite view of Georgian Bay frontally, with the female figure of the Great Spirit.