Joey Brock

Joey Brock is a Contemporary Mixed Media Artist, who is redefining the
medium of photography, textile art and contemporary craft with his intricate
and cultural commentary work. By weaving together diverse materials, his work lowers the barriers to understanding the multifaceted human experience, allowing viewers to visualize the nuanced
struggles, resilience, and growth that define all people.

Brock considers his work to be deconstructed contemporary portraits that are meant to challenge and confront traditional ideas of beauty and identity. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, from photography to geometric patterns and textures, he experiments with a range of materials and techniques, incorporating everything from embroidery thread, alternative materials to digital printing and layering. The process of creating his art is labor-intensive, as he incorporates hand-stitched and craft media techniques, drawing on the rich history of quilting in America. Stitching is an integral part of his work and the viewer can see the DNA from his fashion merchandising background. The quilting reference, symbolic of our American patchwork of cultures, all of which delineate the hard-worn scars of our histories and the healing within. Quilting for him is as kinetic as a visual manifestation of this tension. Brock’s first memories of quilting began weaving through his childhood thanks to his Grandmother’s and great-aunts’ ritual union with fabrics on their family farm. By utilizing these techniques, Brock seeks to imbue each piece with a sense of warmth and humanity, as well as to signify the importance of often-overlooked artistic traditions.

Brock earned his degree in Fashion Merchandising from Bauder College in
1988. His work has been exhibited nationally at venues including the
Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University, The Louise Hopkins
Underwood Center for the Arts / LHUCA, The Delaware Contemporary, the
Meadows Gallery – University of Texas at Tyler, AMoA Amarillo Museum of Art
Biennial 600 and Northpark Center in Dallas as well as numerous solo and
group exhibitions at galleries across the nation. In 2022, his work was selected
by juror Lauren R. O’Connell, curator of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale
Museum of Contemporary Art for New American Paintings, Issue 156 as well
as in 2024, Issue 174 by juror Anita N. Bateman, Ph.D., Associate Curator of
Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX. His work
has been featured twice on the digital billboard of the Pendry West Hollywood
on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He is represented by On Center Gallery in Provincetown, MA and On 5th Gallery in Dallas & Clifton, TX. Brock currently resides in Dallas, Texas.