Known & Unknown - The Art Club Salmagundi NY challenges emerging artists to dare and be bold - Joseph Mandel answers it

Salmagundi Club NY is an extraordinary place for artists and art lovers. Not only because it is a fabulous home for creatives, with its galleries, halls, library, and the beloved speakeasy bar, but also because it’s a formidable springboard and platform for emerging artists.

This year the Club, and the passionate, talented Chair of the Junior/Scholarship Program Stella Chang, set the stage for a great display of art, posing a unique challenge to the participants of the program: to join the “Known & Unknown” exhibition, in which they present works from both their principal form of expression and an unfamiliar one. A challenge. To display their strengths and to show how they can think out of the box.

I was particularly intrigued by this project, not only as a writer for Livein Magazine, but as a Salmagundi resident artist myself, and I asked Stella if I could interview few of the artists admitted to the show to hear directly from them how they dealt with that challenge. I was able to have three great conversations. With Joseph Mandel, Elena Bria, and Jaivin McCoy.

I came up with five straightforward questions. No filters. Without mincing words.

In this series of three interviews, we start with Joseph Mandel.

Joseph Mandel, Joan of Arc, oil on canvas, 24x36 - 2025

1. What brought you to realism and the choice of your materials?

Joseph tells me that what it was was a sort of internal pressure he put on himself to prove to himself and the world that he had good technical abilities to paint and sculpt in realism. Also, because the art school was focusing more on contemporary art at his college, if he could excel in realism in its class, that would have meant something. When it comes to its medium of choice, Joseph actually started as a sculptor, using different materials (bronze, marble, etc.), studying art history he became fond of also other media and, because he was already painting when during its sculpting, it was an organic transition transitioning more to brushes and canvases. And because sculptures are more demanding, because of the spaces, materials, and time they require, painting also came out as more practical and more effective in keeping his motivation and drive on. And the result has been almost 100 paintings over the last ten years. Joseph focuses mostly on oil, of which he likes the high quality it produces. I was fascinated by this artistic transition and intrigued to see if what Joseph had to learn in terms of body anatomy, muscular reactions, and face anatomy had an influence on his style and techniques as a painter. And the answer is yes. During his journey, he found out that, even if his pictures were stylistically commendable, they were not always anatomically correct. And thanks to his knowledge and expertise in sculpting, he improved and enhanced his skills as a painter greatly.

2. How does an object/person/scene become the subject of your work?

To answer this question, Joseph refers to the series he is working on at the moment. It is based on historical figures, heroes, and known characters portrayed in a more modern or contemporary context, both stylistically and representationally. Joseph is trying to honor history while bringing those subjects into new directions that might interest other people in today’s art world.

3. What do you think about New York? How do you find the current art scene?

Joseph always liked the Big Apple and has a soft spot for New York. As a young artist, he feels he is still green to the art scene, and he is excited to jump in and get exposed. In his experience, New York can be welcoming, engaging, and often inspiring, especially thanks to the uniqueness of New Yorkers and the way they present and carry themselves.

4. What do you like about the Salmagundi?

What Joseph likes about the Club is that it gives him the opportunity to grow his network as an artist, to get exposure and display his works, but also, being such an historic place, with a long tradition and a bit old fashion, he is interested to see in which direction the Club will go in the future, and how it reacts to stimuli from young and upcoming artists like him.

Joseph Mandel, Chris in Beige, oil on canvas, 30x40 - 2025

5. What can you tell us about the works of yours selected for the upcoming show in May?

Joseph is presenting large-scale figure portraits, based on realism, academically painted, from the above-mentioned series of historical figures: in particular, Heracles and Joan of Arc, two characters and stories he is very passionate about. He is particularly connected to these works because he asked friends and family to model for him. Heracles is a friend who is a dental student at NYU and a bodybuilder, and he has Italian and Mediterranean heritage, so he was literally designed for this role. Joan is a friend of his fiancé with European heritage. He enriched the works with some gold leaves and put these characters in minimalistic but contemporary settings.

I was delighted by this conversation. Every time, it is fascinating to find out about the choices that have shaped a particular talent and his craft.

In the next article, we will have another conversation with Elena Bria. Stay tuned.

Article by Joseph Ralph Fraia

Images courtesy of Joseph Mandel and Salmagundi Club NY