Architecture of Silence : Steve Joy -

STEVE JOY - PAINTINGS 2025

The Synopsis ‘Architecture of Silence’ by Linda Bell explains some of the inspirations behind Steve Joy’s exhibition of abstract paintings.

Steve’s exhibition was presented by Lynch Eisinger Design Architects (LED) and Amy Barkow and installed in the Architects’ studio on Grand Street, New York City.

The opening event was held on Friday 7th November 2025 to a contemplative and engaged audience. The artist Steve Joy gave a short speech and Linda Bell’s Exhibition Synopsis was available for audience members to read.

A crowd of guests stand around the Architectural Studio of LED Architects to listen to Steve Joy's speech. Bookcases fill the background.

Christian Lynch and Simon Eisinger, the founders of LED Architects welcome guests to Steve Joy's exhibition. Steve's painting 'Architecture of Silence (Gravity) is behind them.

Christian Lynch speaks with guest and fellow architect Ali Sontali at the opening of Steve Joy's exhibition. Steve's painting 'Two Standing Figures (Guardians)' is behind them.

A few photographs from the Opening Reception.

Coming Soon – A Catalogue of photographs of Steve’s paintings will soon be available to purchase in our online Shop, The Pendour Parlour! Linda Bell’s Exhibition Synopsis will accompany the images. Proceeds from every sale go to the artist and writer – our way of giving back and supporting the makers of culture today.

A crowd of guests gather around artist Steve Joy as he makes a short speech during the Opening Event. Bookcases are behind him and drinks and snacks are laid out on the table in front of him.

In the foreground, Steve Joy speaks with several guests, they are all looking at a painting out of shot. Behind them members of the LED team are in conversation. Steve's paintings fill the background, installed upon the walls of the Studio.

A photograph of Steve Joy's monograph 'Uncreated Light' lies on a table. The cover of the book is brilliant red.

A few photographs from the opening event.

EXHIBITION SYNOPSIS : 'aRCHITECTURE OF SILENCE'

Hush –

and hear

the Architecture

of Silence:

a sigh

that echoes

across the Ages.

The timeless light of Byzantium gold finds contemporary awakening in Steve Joy’s structured paintings. His luminous, signature glow draws influence from the materiality of Medieval icon paintings – surfaces cracked, timeworn and weathered by the centuries. Joy’s repertoire of golden radiance is gently diffused by layers of varnish and beeswax veiled over abstract geometries. Yet these new works presented here by LED Architects reach beyond Cimabue’s distorted planes of perspective and the flattened forms of Giotto’s arched buildings.

Exhibition installation view

This exhibition heralds the fresh direction of newfound influence. Joy’s first New York solo exhibition since the early 2000s leads on from steadfast dedication to a practice split between Long Island, Nebraska and Europe. In these recent paintings Joy merges the appeal of ambitious American Abstraction with traces of ancient architecture. Angles, lines and structural forms fuse with poetic references, ideas borrowed from film and the artist’s own travels.

Desert Poem (Maroc)

2022 – 2025 Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

A voice cries out in the desert, revealing the silence of the sand. Joy’s painting ‘Desert Poem (Maroc)’ is sung in harmonies of iridescent, regal red tones. Evoking the loneliness and majesty of the expansive Algerian desert, this work is inspired by the artist’s own journey by camel near the Moroccan border. In another painting, thin transparent layers of blue recall the sea and sky viewed through the ‘whoosh’ of an open window in Nice. Stripes and luminous washes of varnish allude to Matisse’s Mediterranean interiors and the sea-salt scent of the waves.

A Window In Nice

2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

In contrast, the shimmering, silver hues of ‘Queen’s Mirror’ suggest a cooler, almost industrial presence. This work is inspired by an ornate, royal mirror Joy encountered whilst retracing the steps of Lord Byron in Sintra, Portugal. Silver leaf, ink and oil imply the image of a faded reflection. The tarnish of Time. A vacuum of vanity to rival Sylvia Plath’s poem. Memory and materiality become one. Instability reigns.

The Queen’s Mirror

2021 – 2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 122 x 91.5 cm, 48 x 36 Inches

Architecture of Silence (Foundation)

2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 91.5 x 61 cm, 36 x 24 Inches

Several paintings in this exhibition are formed around a cross-shape structure. Joy’s recurring motif is inspired by the subterranean churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia. Carved deep into the earth during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, these hand-hewn sanctuaries are architectural hymns in stone. Shrouded in mystery, they are believed by some to be the handiwork of King Lalibela built with the help of Angels from on high.

Architecture of Silence (Gravity)

2022 – 25, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

In ‘Architecture of Silence (Gravity)’ a golden form resembling a Doric column appears tethered by delicate lines of ink – like the giant bound to the earth in ‘Gulliver’s Tales’. Influenced by sci-fi films such as ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Gravity’, Joy’s floating form hovers as though a floating structure of light. Weightless yet constrained, variations in the gold leaf suggest movement, as though the imprint of sunlight streaming in through an unseen window.

Joy also draws inspiration from Medieval Cistercian Abbeys dotted throughout France, such as Sénanque. Resplendent in their plain, restrained ornamentation, the minimal aesthetic of these architectural wonders holds profound stillness. Echoes of their floor plans appear in Joy’s compositions, evoking the deep sense of contemplation still present in these buildings. Joy’s palette and choice of materials recall the balance of sunlight and shadow around the cloisters which once guided the monks’ introspective transformation in their oath of silence.

Icon Byzantium Lionheart

2023 – 25, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

While ‘Icon Lionheart’ references Fontevraud Abbey, resting place of Richard the Lionheart, the silent stones of Mayan temples re-emerge in the diptych ‘Architecture of Silence (The Mayan)’. Here, Joy engages with the remains of an ancient civilisation lost to the jungle following his frequent visits to Mexico. This work resonates with the haunting painting ‘Ozymandias’ inspired by Shelley’s poem where a ‘colossal wreck, boundless and bare’ lies on the ‘lone and level sands’ beneath a vast sky in an ‘antique land’.