missing collage

My continued sickness (since Tuesday evening) sent me to Urgent Care this evening and a diagnosis of possible pneumonia. I have been laid out in bed for the past several days. Man, do I MISS doing collage (and posting on my blog)! Hopefully on the path to wellness now. Will post soon.

collaborative cover for Kolaj

I participated as one of seven collagist to create the cover for the up-coming issue of Kolaj magazine. Do you know what portion is mine? http://kolajmagazine.com/content/

The cost of karma?

At the risk of tooting my own horn or patting myself on the back, I would like to share a quick story. As I recently posted, I went to the Farmersville auction in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this week to get some raw materials for collage. It's a great place to get stuff and it's very inexpensive. I previewed the book shown below and decided to bid on it. Most books start at the very low $1 level and go from there. I started the bidding with $1 and then an older gentleman bid $2 and then I bid $3 and so on. At $10, the older gentleman dropped out of the bidding. $10 is not that much money; but given how low things go for at the auction, it was a mid-level bid. I got the book! Another small box of books had not even gotten a $1 bid just before this book was auctioned, so they threw that box in as well. When I got the book and the box, and was coming back around to my seat, the older gentleman asked if I had bid to get the Collier's book or the other box. I informed him that I had bid on the Collier's book. He was disappointed. Then all of a sudden, I felt like the Grinch whose heart began to grow. I asked if he was a vet; to which he replied "yes". I figured that that is why he was bidding on the book. I decided to give it to him. He asked "How much?" as I handed the book to him. I shook his hand and said "Nothing.
Thank you for your service". So I guess the cost of karma is $10

What to do with my monkey?

Well, I was excited to have started the composition with the monkey on the banister and the furnace. I liked it and was looking forward to doing the detail work and putting the images down for the composition. Last night, I ended-up playing around with the monkey image and what emerged was something I like as well. Let me explain a little further. The banister monkey piece that I posted earlier included a photocopied image so that I could see how things looked before making any cuts on the original monkey image (that's why there was less patina on that element. I knew the patina would eventually be close to perfect with the original image). So I had the intact original image still in my studio. Now I'm not sure if I want to go with the furnace composition or with the new composition. The good news (lucky) is that I actually have another, smaller version of the banister monkey (it's a vintage "Brooke's Soap" advertisement). So in a way "it's all good" and I have some creative options. It's certainly better than not having cool images and not having any ideas for compositions. I also have included here another sketch that I did last night.

Materials from Farmersville

I just got back home from a two-day trip to south central Pennsylvania. On Monday evening, I served as an auctioneer for a charity art auction at my friend's restaurant called "The Black Gryphon" (in Elizabethtown, PA). We raised $1700 for Winter's Heritage House, a local historical organization. The piece I donated went for $200 (and I sold one of my collage books). On Tuesday, Anthony and I headed to the Farmersville Auction in Lancaster, PA. Here are some of the collage raw materials I got (cheap!). The date on the "Univerfal Hiftory" book is 1783!

Just what I needed

After wrapping some artwork for an up-coming exhibit, I got back into my work area tonight. I guess it seems like it's been longer than it has. I have been VERY busy with a number of things. I cleaned up my work area a little and then put in some Pat Metheny on the CD player and began with some sketches. I'm pleased with the results so far.

additional sketches from Jan. 1

Just a quick post to share some of the other sketches I did to open up 2014. I'm hoping to spend some time in my art work area again today!

sex and politics in art

Yesterday, on the first day of 2014, I spent most of the day doing some reading and writing related to scholarly endeavors. At around 6:00, I headed downstairs to my art work area and decided to do some exploring and some collage sketching. I had actually thought on my way down that it is a weird thing to think about what new artworks will be created in the upcoming year. I have no idea what images and compositions I will create. It's exciting! I spent some time like I usually do just sort of looking around and organizing things. I took down a small frame that I had had hanging in the rafters for quite some time. I had a frame that was the appropriate size for that frame, so I decided to work with these to open up the year of creativity. I did some rough sketches that weren't compelling and then came across a couple of images of sculptures that I recently taken from a magazine. After some more exploration, I happened across the juxtaposition of the sculptural and anatomical images you see below. It is a two element collage. I have only done one other two element collage (also shown below) and wrote about minimalist collage in a previous post (btw, that piece sold). I could "spice up" the composition with additional elements (color contrast perhaps), but I like the piece "as is". The fact the title of this piece is an essential component of the work perhaps mean that it could be considered a three-element collage (?). The title is "The Muscles: Brian and Gerry" (3.5" x 5.5"). You can also see below a sketch of the piece with the sculptural element turned over (the colorful backside). SOoo… this composition has obvious gay allusions. BUT, I certainly had no premeditation about making a "gay collage". I really like the piece because I like the patina of the paper and the monochromatic nature of the piece (as well as the way the frame complements the work). I also like the way the two figures look so much like they are dancing. Overall, it's an aesthetically pleasing piece. I found myself thinking "Will people think I'm gay if I show this piece"? (not that there is anything wrong with that). I suspect that some people sometimes think my surrealistic compositions must  somehow represent "how my mind works". And I suppose at some level they do… sometimes. Other times, I am simply putting together images that seem to "work" together -- aesthetically or otherwise. It seems strange to even be writing this much about this piece. For god's sake, it's artwork (and if you're reading this blog, you are not naive about the various natures of art)! With all this being said, I am truly looking forward to what the new year holds for me and my artistic journey (and to see what compositions emerge from my explorations and sketching)! I also look forward to seeing what me fellow artists create this year!