Joseph Eschenberg

About the Artist

Joseph Edward Eschenberg is a self-taught mixed media and assemblage artist whose work is defined by a lifelong dialogue with the water’s edge. He began his creative journey in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River, where he first started experimenting with the integration of disparate materials.

His practice evolved further in Napeague, New York, on the eastern end of Long Island. During this time, he became a fixture of the local arts community, spending his summers teaching assemblage at the prestigious Victor D’Amico Institute of Art (The Art Barge).

Currently, Eschenberg lives and creates in Fort Montgomery, New York. Having traded the Atlantic ocean for the Highlands, he continues to explore the intersections of found materials and natural environments. His current work reflects this geographic shift, moving from the expansive scale of the coast to the rhythmic, powerful flow of the Hudson River’s current tactile and structural compositions.

Artist Statement 

As a self-taught artist and an outsider, my work is born from a place of improvisation and direct action. I explore the spectrum of human experience—from the painful to the playful—by fusing together acrylic, enamel, wood, and industrial metals. My inspiration and materials are often claimed from the street; I am drawn to the beauty in objects that are worn, ragged, and cracked. This urban sensibility adds a tangible dimension to the elusive, soulful energy of each component. Through mixed media and assemblage, I seek a balance between chaos and control, constantly observing how light shifts the appearance of the 'off-centered' world throughout the day. For me, the process of creating is an endless journey of finding the extraordinary within the discarded.