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St. Leger
“Monty” Joynes (b. 1941) began painting spontaneously as a
teen in Norfolk, Virginia. Following a degree at the
University of Virginia, he went to Scandinavia as a Bauhaus
Situationist fellow, basically recognized as a poet and
fiction writer. But while living at the summer studio of
famed Danish abstractionist Asger Jorn, Monty began painting
again. His work then came to the attention of the leading
modern art critic in Denmark, Jens Jörgen Thorsen. The
result was a turn from writing to full-time artwork in
watercolor, ink, oils, glass, and outdoor sculptural
assemblages.
By 1964, the work of the 23-year-old American expatriate was
being shown in galleries; and in his association with the
Bauhaus group, he became recognized as an artistic phenom.
His associations included such outstanding European artists
of the historic abstract movement as Jörgan Nash, Hardy
Strid, Bengt Rooke, Constant (Holland) and Novi Maruni
(Italy).
Also in 1964, Monty wrote and directed an award-winning
short film—A Place In Time—for KRW Productions, headed by
the famous Swedish novelists and filmmakers Per Wahloo and
Maj Sjöwall.
Monty’s European artistic tour de force ended when he was
suddenly drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War
years. He then received via telegram the news of his film
award while in Army Basic Training at Ft. Gordon, Georgia.
Out of the Army in 1967, Monty managed a small one-man
exhibition and briefly returned to painting. His successes
in Europe, and the lost war years, however, did not
translate to the American market. Then, too, he had a wife
and a child on the way to support. He then turned to his
writing skills and began a career as a magazine journalist
and editor.
As a magazine editor, Monty commissioned much illustrative
art and photography which he edited for publication. In 1969
he also wrote and directed The Graz Experience shot on
location in Austria. After hundreds of published feature
articles and a guidebook series, Monty became a full-time
book author in 1995. His published production includes four
novels in the Booker Series. Encouraged to write screenplays
again, Monty has written seven feature film screenplays, of
which four have been optioned for production.
In 2007 Monty established a studio at his home in Boone,
North Carolina, and began painting again. All his previous
work from the historic heights of Abstract Expression in the
1960s is now in the hands of private collectors. Two
purchases from this period were made by museums in Sweden
and Germany. One purchase went to a member of the Swedish
Royal Family.
At age 67 Monty is one of the few living artists who can
trace his roots directly to the leaders of Abstract
Expression in Europe. The new work from Monty’s studio
continues to be a direct connection to that significant
movement in art history. The surface of a St. Leger Joynes
painting still moves in multiple dimensions, and the vivid
colors still scintillate with an intelligent energy that
provokes the imagination of any serious viewer. After a
40-year hiatus, it is evident that the expatriate American
boy wonder who burst on the Scandinavian art scene in the
mid-1960s is still a creative powerhouse in the visual arts.
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Monty’s art
work is not traditional in the same way that his novels
cannot be pigeon-holed into a genre or category. His early
work in Europe was obviously of the Abstract Expression
school, but his most recent work is more eclectic in both
style and materials.
The Woodhaven Series of
2007, for example, is very naturalistic in its use of
construction boards and a color patterning that is unique.
Other new works demonstrate his
Native American
influence by the use of leather, feathers, and beads. There
are also geometric studies in vibrant colors, and even
variations on the human figure. It is evident that Monty
wants to surprise himself in the creative process, so he is
apt to affix complimentary found objects on a painted work.
In the Imaginist Bauhaus way, he is constantly
experimenting.
Monty is not interested in reproducing what anyone has done
in the past. He is the true avant garde artist in that his
work is unlike the standard fare seen in most galleries that
present decorative works rather than the experimentation of
idea-driven artists. This is not to say that Monty’s art
cannot be displayed in most residential or office settings.
What is implied is that Monty’s art work cannot be passed by
as wall décor, but must be viewed in another context that
merits attention and even discussion.
In his re-beginning as a serious visual artist, Monty has
limited the size of his compositions as can be seen in the
Gallery Showcase. One 1967 collector, for example, owns a
framed watercolor by Monty that is 2 x 17 feet long! Monty’s
current vision has not yet reached those dimensions. As the
demand for his work increases and his studio enlarges, he
may yet go beyond the single 30” x 36” recent work that is
already sold.
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