Josh Arseneau

New York City based artist Josh Arseneau, focuses on obstruction and ways of seeing objects stripped of their intended purpose. Graduating from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2004, Josh began his career juxtaposing the ephemeral medium of graffiti with the emotional content of war violence in West Africa. While still playing with contrast, Josh’s current work humorously uses 60s pop style via bright colors and geometric images to help the viewer digest images that are fundamentally disquieting. Advertisement models with their faces almost totally obscured, blocked out crossword puzzles, color tests that can’t diagnose anything, Arseneau wants the viewer to be uneasy, but not take the experience too seriously. In choosing items that we often mindlessly use every day, Josh challenges the viewer to consciously evaluate their relationship with their environment. As an avid traveler, Arseneau understands how familiar objects can radically change through context and how uncomfortable, but ultimately compelling, an experience this can be.