NEW MUSIC with MICHAŁ STĘPIEŃ

Posted by Joanna on December 29, 2020 in NEWS

2020
Video promoting the upcoming album of Joanna John (electronics) and Michał Stępień (guitar).

Full playlist:
1. Bleak Time of Revealing
2. Deep Current of Her Cold Fire
3. Shape Beyond Shape Covered By Black Plastic
4. So They Loved but Love Made Nothing Better
5. Sea Is Uneasy Marble
6. The Dark Nerve of Sin
7. We Are The Alchemy

 

MY PAINTINGS NOW TO BUY AT KRANE GALLERY

Posted by Joanna on December 29, 2020 in NEWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very happy to be represented by Krane Gallery from Tromso!
They are located in the city center and have a beautiful collection of art there!
Drop by and spend your money well 🙂

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ABOUT “LYNX”

Posted by Joanna on October 8, 2019 in NEWS

Some words from: Toneshift.net!
“Another interesting duo with a record of note is the electroacoustics possibilities explored by Joanna John & Burkhard Stangl entitled Lynx (Interstellar). As they mesh old/new technologies to form an encrusted drone the air around you may become tinted with the strange and familiar. Guitar strings, rain, intermittent percussion are seriously infused here, steeped into a sort of sonic folk music. They have a rustic flair with cosmic glitter tossed sparingly into the mix, making for the soundtrack to nature at a turning point in history. It’s a glassy world we are looking into, one that is defying the odds to keep certain traditions alive, and for all its warmth there is something unsettling just below the surface.”


Something in German as well with the company of Erik Satie and Morton Feldman!
Westzeit!

Fragment of the translation: “One might think that the animal (from the cover) listened to the dreamy form of avant-garde that the Austrian guitarist developed with the Polish A/V artist here. Delicate (half) acoustic guitar figures swing over an electronic primer of soft noise or individual piano stops, here and there, feedback flashes and fades away – all with the greatest possible calm and yet full of “suspense”.

BOOMKAT

Posted by Joanna on May 20, 2019 in NEWS

No End between recommended albums!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT No End:

“Absorbingly otherworldly and brilliant debut of noirish ambient electronics from Joanna John, who steps out of the shadows as a graphic designer for Biosphere and Bocian releases to present her first musical recordings – a big tip to fans of Teresa Winter and Felicia Atkinson

Over the course of six songs Joanna limns the illusive feeling of altered states of consciousness, using half-heard vocals, treacly pulses, and a mix of spacious synths and floating organ tones to connote the para-dimensional logic of heavy-lidded, intoxicated mindframes.

Introducing herself with the quicksand base and barely buoyant whispers of ‘I can’t Remember How I Got Here’, the album continues to induce a deliciously woozy state with amorphous, intimate synth sculpture of ‘Imagined Truth’, while ‘First Morning Out’ dawns suspended organ tones and pitter patter rhythms recalling Felicia Atkinson works. And just as you think you’ve grasped her sound, ‘The Deepest Instinct Is Expressed In Running’ flips the script with a tarry streak of slo-mo darkwave dance music where you almost expect ToC’s Camella Lobo to join in, and fittingly comes followed by the dark post-punk bassline, steepled vocal and creepy chamber atmosphere of ‘Here Warmth Is Transmitted’, with the viscous curdle of her Chris & Cosey-like finale, ‘Nothing Is Changed But Everything Will Alter’ serving to close the first chapter in Joanna John’s quietly promising story.”

Bartek Chaciński writes about NO END

Posted by Joanna on May 2, 2019 in NEWS

“A Polish girl living on the Norwegian island of Senja, graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and above all a visual artist, although to say “above all” is a terrible underestimate of this delicate but firmly sewn debut album with minimalist but diverse electronic music. In most parts without beat, but with the tension built on the contrast between powerful and subtle, synthetic and natural sounds, as well as perfect space, virtual and natural.

The best illustration of these features can be found in the First Morning Out, though it is also the most meditative and thrifty piece, guided by aesthetics performers from Raster-Noton. The album surprises for a long time until the appearance of the vocal part in Here Warmth is Transmitted and all its colorful qualities are exquisitely mastered by Mikołaj Bugajak (NOON). On Record Store Day, Joanna John will perform in the Spatif Club in Warsaw together with Burkhard Stangl”
(8/10 points)

– Bartek Chaciński / Polityka

MY ALPHABET FOR FYH!

Posted by Joanna on March 29, 2019 in NEWS

ABCD…: Joanna John

APRIL the 13th. COME TO SPATiF. TICKETS AVAILABLE!

Posted by Joanna on March 10, 2019 in NEWS


Tickets available. 30/40/50 PLN.

FIRST DAYS OF 2019 IN THE STUDIO

Posted by Joanna on January 4, 2019 in NEWS

 

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Posted by Joanna on December 27, 2018 in NEWS

Winter 2018, Senjahopen.

“What ancestors speak in me? I can’t live simultaneously in my head and in my body. That’s why I can’t be just one person. I can feel within myself countless things at once.

Where am I when I’m not in reality or in my imagination? Here’s my new pact: it must be sunny at night and snowy in August. Great things end. Small things endure. Society must become united again instead of so disjointed. Just look at nature and you’ll see that life is simple. We must go back to where we were, to the point where we took the wrong turn. We must go back to the main foundations of life without dirtying the water. What kind of world is this if a madman tells you you must be ashamed of yourselves!”

– Tarkovsky, Nostalghia

“Some people say that the essence of butoh lies in the mechanism through which the dancers stops being himself and becomes someone or something else. This is a different conception of dance then the conventional where the body of the dancer expresses an emotion or abstract idea.

For example, take the studying of a rooster. “The idea was to push out all of the human inside and let the bird take its place. You may start by imitating, but imitation is not your final goal; when you believe you are thinking completely like a chicken you have succeeded.

The important thing with this is not the transformation into a chicken, but the transformation itself, the fact that you change. Only in this way you can bring the body back to its original state. It is not depiction or symbolization which is the foundation of butoh. It is the metamorphosis.”

– Harmen Sikkenga, from Butoh – Dance of Darkness 1994.

Dance: Wojtek Matejko
Music: Joanna John

RED LENTILS DAL & KEFIR BREADS

Posted by Joanna on December 5, 2018 in NEWS

Oh no, this is not a culinary blog, but last Friday I was asked to cook a dinner for a group of 12 yogis participated in strala yoga workshops leading by a friend of mine, Renata, on the picturesque Senja Island placed above the Arctic Circle. I live here and I know this girl. I knew she would try ice bathing in the ocean with the participants… So I definitely had to make something warming up.
I prepared red lentils dal served with kefir breads or/and rice. First meal is 100% vegan. Second contains kefir so it’s not for everyone.

A few people asked me for a recipe so here we go:

Ingredients and proportions for 10/12 people dal:

  • two large onions
  • three/four small cartons of sliced tomatoes
  • one glass of tomato purée
  • 10 medium potatoes
  • two big carrots
  • 400/500 g of red lentils
  • three big cloves of garlic
  • cumin powder
  • nigella seads
  • tandori masala spice
  • 5 dry kaffir lime leaves
  • fresh coriander
  • home made kashmiri masala paste* (can be replaced i.e. by a ready one from Patak’s, easy to get in international shops)
  • sea salt or a half of a chopped lemon marinated in salt
  • optional: coconut milk and a half of salted lemon


Cover the bottom of 10 liters pot with olive oil and heat it up slightly.
Put chopped onion and garlic into the pot and add two/three good tablespoon of cumin.
Fry it together for a little while, then add sliced tomatoes, one good tablespoon of nigella, three tablespoons of tandori masala, don’t forget about stirring for 1-2 minutes.
Add circa 5 liters of water. Wash lentils under cold stream of water and add it to the pot. Let it warm up and to boil while cutting carrots and potatoes into slices.
Remember that lentils loves to stick to the bottom – so stir! 🙂 Add potatoes and carrots. Add two/three good tablespoons of kashmiri masala paste. Time for salt. Be careful. 1-2 tablespoons should be enough.
It’s nice to feel a real taste of all the ingredients or eventually add the salt at the end. If you already added too much, you can rescue the meal by adding spinach.
Add kaffir lime leaves and chopped coriander. Leave some coriander to decorate the top of the plate. The best way is to shred kaffir leaves slightly with your hands instead of grinding them.
Let it boil all together until the potatoes and carrots get ready.
Check the water. Dal should not be too thick but also not too thin 🙂 You know how it should be, right? 🙂
If it’s too hot, serve with a dollop of coconut milk and a few drops of lemon. Tastes bests on the next day. Love!

*Ingredients for a home made Kashmiri Paste
  • 4 tablespoons coriander seeds
  • 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
  • 4 tablespoons cumin seeds
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 8/10 dried Kashmiri red chillies
  • 2 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
  • 1 x 3cm cinnamon or cassia stick
  • 3 Asian bay leaves or western bay leaves
  • 100ml white wine vinegar
  • 150ml vegetable oil (add more if required)
  • 5 cm of fresh ginger
  • salt to taste (I usually leave it out and add salt when cooking)
Instructions
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat.
Pour the whole spices into the pan and roast until warm to the touch. The spices may smoke a bit but they really only need to get warm and fragrant to be ready.
Remove the spice from the heat to cool on a plate and then place the spices in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and blend to a fine powder.
In a frying pan, mix this powder with about 100ml of water and stir into a paste.
Pour the oil into the pan, and turn your burner on to medium high.
Stir continuously until the spices begin to sizzle a bit and the oil all rises to the top. 30 seconds to a minute should be enough as you have already roasted the spices.
Turn off the heat and add the vinegar and stir it all up nicely. Spoon the spice mixture into a very clean preserve jar with an air tight lid.
This will keep in the fridge for at least three months. Use as required.

 

Ingredients for kefir breads:

  • 1 kg of flour
  • circa 800 ml of kefir
  • 2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda
  • 2 teaspoonfuls of salt
  • 2 good tablespoons of nigella seeds
  • optional: one good spoon of yellow curry

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl, add kefir and kneed a thick dough. Then shape the dough into 12 flat irregular cakes or more. Coat them gently in the flour so the dough could not stick to the pan.
Heat up just a bit of oil or ghee butter at the pan and fry firsts two cakes each side for around 1 minute until they rise.
Serve with the soup and garlic butter mixed with fresh parsley.

They are also very tasty without any spices, just as a morning rolls with jam and coffee.

By the way… have you already tried red rowan autumn jam?
It can be mixed with apples or wild arctic rhubarb but processing the rowan must be very strict.
It should spend in the freezer minimum three days before starting preserving and then should be heated up and cooled down a few times.
Then I prepare it like any other jam, adding other fruits and spices like cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, brown sugar etc.
OK. That’s it for now 🙂 Enjoy!

 

IT IS NOT DECEMBER YET

Posted by Joanna on November 20, 2018 in NEWS

It is not December yet / Joanna John

Cycle Arctic Abstracts continues with Autumn colors and blurry shapes.
You will find it in the web store. Prices in NOK.

 

HOW TO MAKE A GALLERY WALL

Posted by Joanna on November 5, 2018 in NEWS

1. Decide you must!
2. Choose a wall.
3. You already have paintings, right?
4. Mix different formats.
5. Do not be afraid to hang a modernist poster next to classical painting.
6. Combine colors and styles.
7. And please, have in your mind that framing is often a half of the final effect.

Here you can see some of my paintings hanging between others.

 

 

 

NEW WEB!

Posted by Joanna on October 22, 2018 in NEWS

The last weeks I spent on building a new website integrated with an online store. The site starts in a few days. I must admit that all this little decisions about what should be found on it, and what should not – sometimes were difficult. The mind wants immortality, perfection, some order and honesty… but the heart at the same time says: “Yes, I made it ages ago, but I do not feel it anymore. Maybe it’s not worth publishing?” So in this intense time of work, I give myself a rest, I run every day, I collect various objects and create new constellations out of them. Like the one on the picture below. And it reminds me of the illusory nature of everything, transience, impermanence, moment. Stay tuned!

WINTER TIME IN ATELIER

Posted by Joanna on October 15, 2018 in NEWS

Bjorvika 15 in Mefjordvaer is the new address you can find me, my artworks and the sea of black coffee.
Come! Monday – Friday after 10:00 o’clock.

NO END

Posted by Joanna on October 15, 2018 in NEWS

So, I’ve made my first music album and it’s been a great fun.
Here is the official video to one of the tracks.
Bocian Records 2018.

NAUSTET

Posted by Joanna on July 26, 2017 in NEWS

I’ve decided to move my studio from the house and to open an art gallery. Please welcome if you are in the area. More about Naustet in the link.

naustet picture.jpg

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

Posted by Joanna on January 16, 2017 in NEWS

LOGIC IS NOT THE ANSWER

Posted by Joanna on December 26, 2016 in NEWS

Cosmic panic is a pivotal experience for human. It’s a frequent feeling accompanying incidents caused by emotional contact with nature, art, music etc. It can come i.e. in meditation or during psychedelic session. Integration of this feeling is necessary to cross the abyss of the mind and to stop being helpless against the stream of life. Meditative shots and a spoken word based on Zapffe’s essay open the door of consciousness and help to accept that we are only visitants in this jungle of blind mutations.

WHERE IS THE ONE WHO IS WATCHING THIS?

Posted by Joanna on December 26, 2016 in NEWS

VENUS

Posted by Joanna on October 14, 2016 in NEWS

VENUS embodies sex, love, beauty, enticement, seduction, and persuasive female charm among the community of immortal gods. In myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam. Roman theology presents Venus as the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and balance of life. She is essentially assimilative and benign, and embraces several otherwise quite disparate functions. She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune and prosperity. In one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes; in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue.

Abstract and fleeting video sound installation based on a track by Zenial from his solo performance at Swedish Energies 5. Festival organized by EMS & Issue Project Room / St.Vitus New York, December 5. 2015. Final mix and editing: Rockaway Park NYC, August 2015.
Music by Zenial / New York 2016 / zenial.pl
Video by Joanna John / Senja 2016 / joannajohn.com
Cover and design by Sebastian Buczek / altanovapress.com
Mastered by Patryk Gęgniewicz