A blast from the past -- "1153"

This is the first piece that I ever submitted to the National Collage Society annual juried show. It was before I started this blog and I don't believe I ever posted an image of it. It was destroyed in the shipping process (by FEDEX!!!). Here is the "artist's statement" that went with the piece...

“1153”

by

Steven Specht

     This piece is inspired by the “Doomsday Clock”, created in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in symbolic recognition of the international accumulation of atomic weaponry and the state of geopolitical equilibrium across the globe (see:www. thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/timeline.htm). In 2002, the clock was moved from 9 minutes until midnight to 7 minutes until midnight (i.e., 11:53). According to the atomic scientists, this change was prompted by the following: “The United States rejects a series of arms control treaties and announces it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons.” It is interesting to note that in 1991, the clock was designated to be at 17 minutes before midnight. The middle panel of this piece suggests the interactions between religious and scientific/techno-logical forces which contribute to global tensions and which may actually have a common ancestry as alluded to with the iconic fish and mortality (i.e., skull) imagery.

nota bene: the sound of static may be added to enhance the impact of this piece by adjusting the volume using the small black knob at the right-hand side of the digital clock mechanism.

My friend and fellow artist Tom Nettle

A dear friend of mine (for over 30 years) is a civil servant in the field of Human Services and is also  an accomplished oil painter from Syracuse, NY. He recently saw a Van Gogh painting of the poet Eugene Boch and thought of me when he saw it. So he asked if I would "sit" for him to do some sketch studies and potentially paint a portrait of me in the style of Van Gogh's Boch piece. I was interested and willing. We discussed the fact that it might not work out. But I admire Tom's motivation and courage to try it. It may be difficult to "see" me sensorially, when he has known me personally (and "psychologically") for so many years. I'm interested in however this project turns out.

New prep

Whilst I was on the porch last night attending to the intermittent halloween visitors, I decided to start prepping (i.e., sanding) my next project. I'm going to try to do a collaged guitar body!

getting back into "it"

Okay, I'm going to admit it... I feel terrible about not posting on this blog more over the last 6 months. Mostly because I REALLY appreciate your interest in collage and this site. In some way, I feel like I have let you down a little. BUT, enough of that... I am hoping to post more now again. And I hope that you will enjoy what I post. Tonight I was in my studio again. I needed to do some art "custodial work" for some pieces that need to be "shipped out". However, I was able to sit down and do some exploration. A couple "sketches" started to emerge..

Sculpture Space CHAIRity Auction 2014

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the major annual fund-raiser for Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. This organization provides paid competitive residencies for sculptors from around the world. I have been involved with the organization since 2000 and am a member of the Board of Directors. Every year I donate a piece for the auction, and being the competitive individual I am, I am always hoping to "set a new record" for amount that my piece fetches at auction. I was SO excited and pleased last night when my piece "shattered" last year's high water mark! It's a shot in the arm for me. And as anyone who reads this blog knows... once in a while an artist needs some good feedback about their work as encouragement to "keep on keeping' on"!

Lysergic park

I worked in my studio for a while last night. It was fun... but I was getting a little bit anxious after some time. I was doing lots of experimenting with placements of elements, but nothing was really "coming together". After a while, I brought out a piece I had set aside for quite some time (I've done that with several projects). I REALLY liked the substrate; so much so that I had already gotten a mat and frame made specifically for it. One of the reasons I was so excited about it was because it was a "centerfold". Since my collage work is all analog (i.e., I do no photocopying or digital manipulation), I am always on the lookout for a cool image element that might give me an opportunity to "spread my wings" in terms of size. You'll see below the "full" substrate image (a B&W photo of some boys in Central Park). I decided to play with some additional element placements and happened on the one I show below. BUT, it is "truncated" in size from the original centerfold! The thing is, I LOVE this truncated piece! I have not put anything down permanently, but I am seriously thinking of forgetting about the centerfold and doing the smaller composition. I have included a couple of "detail" shots here to show the "mini-figures" in the piece. The left side of the composition looks like a reflection of the building in a body of water... but that is NOT what that portion of the image is. There is no water (except for the little bit of blue below the boat). I suppose I will find another interesting "centerfold" or equivalent for the mat and frame I had made. I have tentatively entitled this piece "Catching the Boat at Lysergic Park" (since it is such a weirdly surreal piece).

Faces conference in Athens, Georgia

On Sunday, I am heading to Athens, GA for a small humanities conference which will focus on the "Phenomenology of Faces". The conference is organized jointly by folks at The State University at Albany (SUNY, Albany) and Nomadikon (a group out of The University of Bergen in Norway). I will be presenting a paper about the intersections of neuroscience, psychology and art. I will be specifically discussing "face detector" neurons in the temporal lobe of the brain and artwork by 16th Century artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo; 20th Century artist Salvador Dali and contemporary collage artist John Stezaker. If you are not already familiar with Stezaker's work, it's really worth checking out. I would refer to him as a "minimalist" collage artist as most of his pieces consist of two or three elements. I love his work! Here are a couple of examples...