Portrait of Artist ca: 1987
By Alan Dayton
Collection McIntosh Gallery; London, Canada

"Hubbard's works are intelligent, provocative, and sensual in rich materiality ...the various recognizable signs and symbols assemble together to inform the work and bring experience to bear. ... They are exceptionally well made... beautiful and witty; ... and a pure pleasure to behold .....This is smart art crafted in the hands of a contemporary master..."
Ben Benedict; Scene Magazine

"(Hubbards work)...is an eye's feast of irony and dichotomies; ...forcing
the viewer to think critically and act morally."
Kathy Rumleski; London Free Press; "Weapons of Mass Delusion"

"Hubbard... grapples with large issues ­ social and national identities, politics, questions of cultural value systems and aesthetics, the limitations and evolution of language ­ his work...tells the viewer not only much about the society that we are a part of but also how we got to where we were... His works... often become ciphers ­ titularly one thing but really, upon closer examination meaning something else. And therein lies their strength and power ­ they are not obvious but rather reveal themselves slowly after thoughtful observation and consideration. They are ...more rich for not being obvious.

Whether through the media he uses or the compositions he creates, his work often deals notions of restrictions, of not being bound (by, assumptions or limitations). He will often purposely distort proportions or create unlikely pairings in order to emphasize the incongruity or absurdity of a particular expectation. Elements that are seemingly at odds with each other, ie modernity and obsolescence, are integrated together with a skilful aesthetic fluidity within the same work. The viewer is enticed and drawn towards the work by its gracefulness and sometimes seductive aspects. Yet the metaphoric content, in contrast, challenges the viewer, creating a visual experience of discomfort and tension. And in doing so hopefully incites one to question the values and mechanizations of the contemporary world that has been created... That....is the mark of genius."
(from Joseph Hubbard, 25 Years of Provocative Questions)
Virginia Eichhorn; Curator; Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, 2007

"Hubbard insists that we see the political as an adamantly local phenomenon, stubbornly rooted in the aesthetic processes and artefactual products that concern us...however much we would prefer them ripped out and thrown away."
Gil McElroy; independent curator

"Gleefully iconoclastic.. ..few have as successfully proved to be an artistic moral conscience for their times...." "innovative in approach..and with a restless imagination.."
Lawrence Sabbath; Montreal Gazette

"Hubbard loves mystery and fear...; simultaneously attracts and repels,exposes and conceals...; takes acid swipes at the socio-economic system...; seduces the viewer. He uses enigma, amalgams of world events, and poses riddles. Like the boy who dared call the emperor naked.....and Laurie Anderson, Hubbard points at artificial image and social values as he poses rebuttals to our meglomania. His work is curiously anthropomorphic, handsomely crafted, autonomous, and rich in meaning...."
Pierre Fortin; Money/Function/Time/Form; from exhibition catalogue

"Joseph Hubbard's work is the surprise.... exhibition....it is urbane, witty, irreverent....and makes wry insights with showmanship flare."
Gloria Hickey; Fusion Magazine.

"Hubbard's carefully crafted constructions have a lot to say...Apart from his techical facility, his main tools are black humour and satire.....and can be extremely clever and deadly... it was an exhibition highlight."
Christopher Hume; Toronto Star

"In the forefront is ...sculptor Joseph Hubbard... An appealing irreverance permeates everything he creates. He speaks of irony and whimsy and they appear in balance consistently in piece after piece. His expression is distinctive and unmistakable, the mark of artistic virtue."
Ian Trowell; London Free Press.

"Joseph Hubbard's sculptures exhibit awesome sophistication and devastating wit. Master of his media, he unleashes an eccentric and prolific spirit that occillates between the comic and tragic poles of the absurd. He celebrates the surreal with...dramatic incision and unexpected juxtapositions to expose the...soft underbelly of our emotions and cuts into our consciousness with the scalpel of a psychic surgeon"
Pierre Fortin; London Free Press

"grand and prosaic..."
John Bentley Mays; (in reviewing the giant ceramic collander Glut; about conspicuous consumption ) for the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Joseph Hubbard has been reviewed in the Globe and Mail, Toronto; Toronto Star; Montreal La Presse; Montreal Le Devoir; Montreal Gazette; London Free Press; Ontario Craft; Fusion magazine, Rampike (international literary & arts) and numerous publications. The artist has been interviewed on the CBC FM program, Brave New Waves.