'Untitled (Donald)' is a charcoal on paper work by contemporary artist Joyce Pensato which perfectly captures the artist's approach to taking beloved cartoon characters and re-imagining them with a far darker perception. Thick, dynamic strokes spread across the composition in an energy-infused display of sinister black tones, as the familiar visage of Donald Duck appears spread out and almost pressed against an invisible surface. With a penchant for the ominous, Pensato often presents characters from Disney in dark, frenzied environments in order to speak to cultural corruption and dehumanization she feels is present throughout contemporary society.

Known for her predominantly black and white works which subvert cartoon imagery into darker reinterpretations, artist Joyce Pensato excels in creating visually jarring works with viscerally expressive strokes and stark tonalities. Exposing American dystopia and corruption through familiar cartoon characters, Pensato creates powerful drawings and paintings which are at once unsettling and incredibly revealing in regards to current cultural embodiments. The artist has won numerous awards over the course of her career including a New York Foundation for the Arts Award (1995), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1996), a Pollock-Kranser Foundation Award (1997), and the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2010). In addition to being represented by Friedrich Petzel Gallery (New York, NY), Pensato has held numerous solo shows at venues internationally including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA), Isabella Brancolinii Contemporary Art (Florence, IT), Windows Gallery (Brussels, Belgium), and Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris, France).

Select Public Collections:
Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA)
Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
St. Louis Art Museum (St. Louis, MO)
Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA)