DOORWAY TO JOE HC

A complete monograph of the unique and subversive
artist Joe Coleman, the "walking ghost of old America."
Joe Coleman paints incredibly detailed portraits of sinners, saints,
freaks, and personal friends that collectively present a dark history
of America. Painting with a single-hair brush and a jeweler's
loupe, the artist states he only knows when the painting is done
because he runs out of room on the canvas. With a body of work
that spans five decades (including his early work as a comic book
artist), Coleman's work includes subjects such as Hank Williams,
Ed Gein, Jayne Mansfield, and his wife and muse, Whitney Ward.
Coleman not only captures his subject's likeness, but his portraits
also serve as ambitious narratives of the subject's life. Told
in lozenges scattered throughout the often-larger-than-life works,
the portraits contain scenes from the subject's life and words and
phrases. Coleman is not afraid to explore the dark reaches of the human psyche, but
also portrays a distinct humanity in his subjects and often includes a touch of humor.
A Doorway to Joe collects 150 paintings and comprehensively illustrated sections
and essays about Coleman's fine art, comics art, music career (as front man of the
'70s punk band, the Steel Tips), performance art, and the artist's "Odditorium," a
private museum where sideshow objects, wax figures, crime artifacts and works of
religious devotion live together to form a dark mirror that reflects the alternative
side of the American psyche.
Featuring a foreword by museum director Mike McGee, an introduction by
musician Tom Waits, and essays by art critics, curators, and impresarios including
Rebecca Lieb, Dan Cameron, Nicholas Hall, Darius Spieth, Steven Holmes, Kimiko
Hahn, Latitia Ante Delictum, Jonathon Shaw, Monte Beauchamp, Clemens Marschall,
Sara Fortson, Walton Ford, and Carlo McCormick.
Joe Coleman is a world-renowned painter, writer, and performer who has exhibited
for five decades in major museums throughout the world including one-man exhibitions
in Paris, Berlin, London, and New York. He was the subject of an award-winning
feature length documentary, Rest in Pieces: A Portrait of Joe Coleman (1997) and lives
with his wife Whitney Ward in Brooklyn and upstate New York.