Joseph Yetto’s paintings have been included in many group shows at Thompson Giroux; this is his first solo show at the gallery and provides a unique opportunity to view the full range and depth of his talent and artistic concerns.

Yetto’s creative process is painstaking and open-ended.  A single painting can take weeks or months to complete-- he usually has several pieces in progress at the same time, moving from one to the other as he patiently works to bring each canvas to completion.  The time he invests in each piece becomes a dialogue with his subject; as he deepens his observations the items he has chosen go through their own transformations—changing shape and color as they decay.

“I am fascinated by beautiful deterioration,” Yetto says.  He paints sunflowers in the process of withering and drying-- ghosts of their former, radiant selves but no less worthy of appreciation.

When he approaches a painting, Yetto’s intent is “to be as truthful as I can with what is before me.  If that means changing the whole painting, so be it.” As he adds layers and then scrapes them away, the pieces take on a history of their own, capturing the passage of time.

Along with his sunflowers, the work in this show depicts other natural and man-made objects transformed by time and their surroundings.  Yetto’s willingness to be fully present with his subjects—seeing them as they are, as well as how they were—illuminates the commonplace to reveal the sublime.