Literature
P. Brach and J. L. Ferrier, Kacere, Paris, 1989, p.100 - (illustrated in color).
Kacere by John Kacere images of erotic art, 1996 (illustrated in color).
Catalogue Notes
Painted at the height of John Kacere’s photorealist practice, Joanne encapsulates the artist’s singular devotion to the female torso as both subject and surface. Executed in 1979, the work belongs to the defining period in which Kacere translated his meticulous draftsmanship into iconic close-cropped views of lingerie-clad midsections. Rendered with uncanny precision, the soft gradations of flesh, the taut sheen of sheer fabric, and the subtle undulations of rumpled drapery create a composition that oscillates between figuration and abstraction.
Like many of Kacere’s canvases, Joanne eschews the traditional portrait in favor of a tightly framed fragment, cropped from the ribcage to the upper thigh. This strategic focus suspends narrative identity, transforming what might otherwise be overtly erotic into a contemplative formal study. He takes the photographic and erotic language of advertising and transforms it into something meditative, monumental, and painterly. Kacere once described his intent as celebratory rather than objectifying: “Woman is the source of all life, the source of regeneration. My work praises that aspect of womanhood.” By isolating and magnifying the body on a monumental scale—even in the present, more intimate format—he imbues the subject with the gravity of still life or landscape painting.
The work speaks not only to the artist’s technical rigor but also to his enduring exploration of intimacy, anonymity, and sensual form. Today, Kacere’s paintings resonate beyond their initial controversies, finding renewed significance in contemporary dialogues on the gaze, representation, and the aesthetics of desire.
