Hedges_Joe.jpg | Pullman, WA
Joe Hedges is an intermedia artist whose practice weaves together oil painting, new media, and installation to interrogate the space between our digitally networked, screen-saturated experience of the world and physical reality. His combinatorial works include traditional canvases fused with screens, tablets, and electronic materials, reflecting the fragmented, algorithmically mediated conditions of contemporary life while insisting on the continued relevance of the handmade. Grounded in painting's long history as a mode of representation, Hedges' work reframes painting itself as a form of technology. With an occasional dose of dark humor, Hedges' work draws attention to our collective loss of human agency as algorithms increasingly author our decisions, our desires, and our sense of the real.
Joe Hedges (b. 1980, Hamilton, OH) lives and works in Pullman, Washington. He received his MFA from the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati (2013) and his BFA, Summa Cum Laude, from Northern Kentucky University (2010). He is the recipient of a SECAC Fellowship (2025), a GAP Grant from Artist Trust (2019), and an Innovate Artist Grant (2019). His work has been presented in solo exhibitions internationally, including at Enclave Contemporary, Shenzhen; Esvelt Gallery, Columbia Basin College; the University of Kentucky; and Chase Gallery, Spokane. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Wassaic Project, Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College, and the Beijing and Shenzhen International Contemporary Art Fairs, among others.
Hedges' lifelong commitment to the arts extends well beyond the studio. As a founding member and lead vocalist of July For Kings — a major-label alternative rock band that toured internationally and released multiple albums — he brings an unusually broad perspective on creative work and its publics. He founded Pullman Arts Foundation and facilitated mmany public murals in the community, strengthening the arts ecosystem of the Palouse region. He currently serves as Interim Director of Washington State University's Pollart Center for Arts & Humanities, where he leads cross-disciplinary research and programming at the intersection of arts, culture, and public life.