As an art student in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, he followed the then current trend in art, Abstract Expressionism, doing lots of big, splashy, gestural paintings. It was later, during his first teaching job, at the University of Texas at El Paso, that he found his artistic ‘voice’ by looking hard at and trying to capture the beauty of some paper flowers in a vase. From that point on, through a series of periods, one thing remained constant. His paintings and drawings have always been based on the ‘sight seen.’ That is: they are perceptual.
His work evolved from expressionistic portraits in the late ‘60’s to finely detailed small still-lifes, and in the mid-seventies burgeoned into the large ‘Fruit and Flower’ oils represented here. Through the ‘80’s he painted several series of large still-lifes in watercolor and after a detour into a group of archetypal figures, he became engaged in the ‘90’s with pencil drawings that recreate the intimate world of people and furniture inhabiting his living spaces. In 2003 he turned his attention to the writing of a memoir entitled One Artist’s Vision.
Joseph was featured in an article in American Artist magazine in 1980. From the mid-seventies to the early ‘80’s he showed at the David Findlay gallery in New York City, and throughout the ‘80’s he was represented in Philadelphia at the Gross-McLeaf gallery.
He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Simone. He credits Subud, his spiritul practice, for the many gifts in his life.