On display: June 2 - July 2, 2017
Jane Doesn't Need Dick: Origin of Love by Jo Ann Block
Touchstone Foundation for the Arts Emerging Artist Fellow (TFA) 501 c3 www.tfawdc.org (2015 - 2017)
Opening Reception: Friday, June 2, 6 - 8:30 pm

Jo Ann Block’s mixed media works extol the complexities of sexual and gender identity. Through her artistic process of combining pictorial elements, she stands in defiance of the recent amplification of the ‘oppression of difference’ in America. Her work draws on personal experience and political narrative to reveal her insights into lesbian experience over the last half century. Block’s solo show grapples with numerous concerns such as: identifying as butch while so many queers are transitioning genders; body dysphoria; and guarding queer culture in times of assimilation.   Block considers herself in dialogue with artist Kerry James Marshall, whose work reasserts the black figure into the art canon by countering archaic stereotypes. Block’s collages together a wide range of tactile materials and digital imagery to form a personal and political history.   Jo Ann Block moved from California to Washington, D.C.  7 years ago. She received her B.F.A. from UCLA, and M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She holds a fellowship with Touchstone Gallery (DC), and two summer residencies at SVA in NY. Her work has been exhibited at Emulsion (DC), American University Museum (DC), Transformer Gallery (DC), Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (NY), Metrospace (MI), Baum Gallery of Fine Art (AR), and Thompson Gallery (MA).