Paintings

Coleman’s portraits create complete biographies by surrounding their subjects with interweavings of minuscule images and explanatory text. Artist and viewer embark on exploratory excavations of the subject’s life through the painting. Coleman’s jewel-box approach means that one experiences the paintings afresh at each viewing, uncovering ever more details and nuances that were previously undetected.

An admirer of Northern artists such as Bosch, Brueghel and Grunewald, Coleman employs the same attention to detail and delicate sense of scale, utilizing dual and single haired brushes in conjunction with magnifying lenses to create his refined masterpieces. Like those artists, Coleman also displays a propensity for the gruesome and grisly and often attempts to both dissect and glorify the terrible in many of his paintings, unmasking with brutal honesty the truth of human nature.

A comprehensive list of every Joe Coleman painting since 1978.
If you own a painting that we do not have here, please contact us.

Contact Andrew Edlin Gallery if you are interested in becoming a collector.

Tenebrae for Gesualdo (2004)
Tenebrae for Gesualdo
2004

Acrylic on panel, 91.4 x 71.1 cm.

As You Look into the Eye of the Cyclops, So the Eye of the Cyclops Looks into You (2003)
As You Look into the Eye of the Cyclops, So the Eye of the Cyclops Looks into You
2003

Acrylic on masonite, mixed media console, audio soundtrack, mounted on smoking jacket worn in film, 66 x 37.5 x 21 in. (in console) 30 x 30 in. (painting only).

War Triptych (2003)
War Triptych
2003

Acrylic on panel, 27 x 30 in.

Crash Kid Did it for Osama
Crash Kid Did it for Osama
2002

Acrylic on panel, 19 x 12 in.

And a Child Shall Lead Them [Mary Bell]
And a Child Shall Lead Them [Mary Bell]
2001

Acrylic on panel, mounted on a schoolgirl’s dress, 28 x 34 in.

Altar to Sex, Violence and Death
2001

Acrylic on panel (hinged triptych), 9.5 x 10 x 1.5 with doors open.

I Am Joe's Fear of Disease
I Am Joe’s Fear of Disease
2001

Acrylic on panel, with medical paraphernalia, mounted on hospital gown, 34×40 in.

The Big Bang Theory (2000)
The Big Bang Theory
2000

Acrylic on panel, with explosives-related items affixed to frame, mounted on an exploded shirt, 28 x 34 in.

The Mad Hatter [Boston Corbett] (200)
The Mad Hatter [Boston Corbett]
2000

Acrylic on panel, with customized plastic toy soldiers affixed to frame, 28 x 34 in.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2000)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
2000

Acrylic on panel, 11 x 16 in.

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