In 1979 Josh, his wife Anita and their two daughters, moved to Tucson, Arizona where Josh began work at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. His work brought him into direct contact with local and national artists and their work. It was in the Southwest that his field of vision became contracted and ascetic, giving form to his series of ‘microworks’ — small haiku-like abstractions made from bits of trash, often based or related to his favorite poets and writers: Paul Celan, Edmond Jabes, Walt Whitman, Thoreau, and Basho. Gradually his work moved into photo-collage and laser printing combining surreal-like imagery and his own writings, culminating in the solo show ‘Anonymyths’.
Exhibitions of Josh’s works include large-scale, abstract paintings in acrylic and oils, oversized works on paper, and large charcoal drawings. Though there is an absence of ‘narrative’ and figuration, his powerful yet lyrical works recall Beckett’s observation about Joyce: “He doesn’t write about something. He writes something.”