artists' self-portraits

I must admit that although I enjoy most artists' self-portraits (I especially like self-portraits by my friend Tom Nettle and Coco Larrain shown below), I have always been puzzled by the motivation to do a self-portrait. I also must admit that the idea of doing a collage self-portrait for a couple years. But I have always been concerned as well with the cliche of self-portraiture. These things being said, I think I am now ready to try my hand at self-portraiture. When I visited my mother this week, she shared with me some old photos of me which included a triplicate of a First Communion photo (remember, I only do collage with "originals"… do multiple copies of an old photos constitute "originals"?). So here's the photo and a preliminary sketch for a self-portrait. This should be fun!

some more student collages!

I really enjoy watching students who are new to the world of collage creating such wonderful pieces! Here are a few from tonight's efforts...

"Surreality"

Here are a couple photos from my latest exhibit entitled "Surreality" at The Broad Street Gallery in Hamilton, NY. The exhibit will be up for the month of March. I'm pleased with how Gail and Kathy hung the pieces. Thanks! We had an enjoyable opening last night!

"Muybridge's Fight Club"

Here's a piece I made yesterday that I will have in my solo exhibit opening next weekend at The Broad St. Gallery in Hamilton, NY. I was able to "extend" the dimensions of the piece  (14" x 6"; 35.5 cm x 15.25cm) as it was created from combining two identical cover images from "Science" magazine (remember, my work is all analog; I do no photocopying or digital manipulation). I really like the longer horizontal dimension! The only problem is that the border of the pieces is too clearly visible and distracting at the bottom of the composition. I am hoping to tweak that today at some point (but am a little worried about making it worse). The full title of the piece is "Muybridge's Fight Club: When You Fight, You Get Stoned".

Oldest to newest (legacy and liking?)

I created this blog in January 2010. My first post was of two pieces I made relating to the seven deadly sins. One of the pieces was  entitled "Convolution of Lust", the other "Evolution of Greed". I showed both of these pieces in New York City and "…Lust" sold to an art collector friend of mine. As I have evolved as a collagist, I not as happy with some of the pieces I have created and exhibited as I am with others. I suppose this happens to many artists. Although I still like "… Lust", I haven't been so enamored with "…Greed" for a while. I have decided to "recycle" mats and frames these days by "retiring" works with which I am not that pleased anymore (and thus would never exhibit again). Bottom line… I now have a circular mat to play around with. Yesterday while I was working on two pieces I am getting together for an upcoming exhibit, I did this sketch with the circular mat from "…Greed" from 4 years ago.

small

I so much enjoy doing small dimension collages. Here's a 2.75" x 2.75" (7 x 7 cm) piece entitled "Nothing Much to Say". I think it creates a humorous combination -- late 19th Century engraving with 1950s advertising photograph. The monochromaticity and small size creates an image cohesiveness which, I think "fools" the viewer at first into thinking it's a "legit" image (i.e., serious). Upon closer inspection, there's kind of a "double take" response. I treated this piece well by using a thicker mat and a nice metal frame. The only thing about that is that it is difficult to "re-coop" the expenses. Fortunately, I do not have to make a living on my art.

what a month!

One of my goals was to create more art and to blog more in 2014. I actually started off the new year well. But as I stated in a previous post, around mid January I got pretty sick (diagnosed with pneumonia in fact). Even though I wasn't feeling well, I made the trip to Richmond, Virginia the first week in February for the Southern Humanities Conference at which I read two of my short stories (and led a discussion panel as well). I'm sure that didn't help my recovery. Shortly after returning and trying to get caught-up with schoolwork, a close friend and colleague in the department passed away unexpectedly. Very sad. In addition to doing what needed to be done to talk with students and cover his classes, I also needed to grieve. I was honored when the family asked me to say a few words at his memorial service. BTW, Thom was an active and popular blogger and his "To Gyre and Gambol" blog site is listed on my blog dashboard. I really don't want this  to sound like a "so here's my excuse" post; I simply wanted to explain my "absence". I feel badly because I REALLY appreciate that folks check out this site regularly. I am now healthy again and am starting to get caught-up with my school work, so I hope to be blogging regularly again. I will use a separate post now to put up some images I worked on yesterday. It feels good to be back baby!