COVID musical tribute

The lyrics of this song were written by my friend and collage art mentor Jonathan Talbot. Here's to all the healthcare workers on the front lines, helping us through these trying times.

Exploratory phase

At this point, during the "lockdown" of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am still in the "cleaning out and organizing" phase of working in my "studio". My "studio" is my basement, and it is quite a sight to behold (perhaps I will post photos of that soon); in that it is quite chaotic. Some collage artists have their elements filed in drawers or envelopes by color or subject or smoother organizing system. I tend to exist in a creative world of chaos. It has served me well; and perhaps represents the "accidental" and emergent properties of my work. I like to experiment and discover or "re-discover" elements without premeditation. Anyway, I also like to simply explore -- to peruse vintage publications; to discover; to contemplate. And oftentimes, I will explore further, using the internet to learn about vintage products or people. I came across this 1947 advertisement for "Muffets" the other night.

I was particularly intrigued by the fact that the artist signed his work for this advertisement. So I looked-up "vintage Bill Fleming" using Google. I anticipated that I might not get any meaningful results -- that the artist might just be an obscure "ad man" with no notable web presence. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mr. Fleming WAS in the internet ether and that images of his vintage work are still available on posters and other products. Here is a cover he did for a pulp fiction book back in the day:

Collage... always interesting and stimulating for me... even in the clean-up, organizing, and exploratory phase!

Colored eggs

Once again, not collage-related, but art-related nonetheless. One of the things that has changed dramatically for me during the COVID-19 pandemic, is the amount of time I spend in my house (which is, effectively, almost ALL of the time... I do go fo daily walks). Normally, I spend a lot of time socializing in one arena or another. Yesterday, I decided to try to hand-paint some hard-boiled eggs. These are a bit rough around the edges; but I like them anyway. SO, here's to wishing EVERYONE a happy day and wishing EVERYONE hope for more beautiful days in the future. Hang in there everyone!

Meaty

Well, this is kind of silly... but, as I have stated before, I LOVE looking through vintage magazines! And I LOVE the advertisements, especially. I was looking through a Ladies Home Journal and came across advertisements for FOUR different processed canned meats. Together with meat and vegetable gelatin molds, what were these folks thinking about!? I mean, it's not like we're craving that "traditional" food ;-) ... but I'd try it!

found again

One of the many positive aspects of collage, is that the medium involves procurement and perusal of various sources of potential compositional elements. From vintage books and magazines, to calendars and contemporary science publications, the variety of materials seems almost endless. Oftentimes, when I might be feeling perhaps less "creative" in the evening, I will still head down to my studio and  go through old books or magazines and enjoy just looking at visual elements. I might page through a Life magazine from the 1950s and rip out pages that I might use in the future for my collages. Over the last 5-7 years, I have accrued quite a stack of hundreds of single ripped-out pages of what I consider interesting elements. Last night, as I was looking through that stack, I came across these gems. Although I remember most all of the pages I have rioted out, I didn't remember the temperance page. Quite interesting I think. And I certainly will NOT be signing that page any time soon (especially given what we are all going through these days!). I love the St. Stephen image too. How did he die? He was "stoned" to death (haha). Anyway, just thought I'd share these "re-found" images, in lieu of anything that I have created (that'll be the next post, perhaps).

Uniqueness

As an arts medium, collage has stimulated many great discussions about the nature of creativity and the definition of art. I really love that about collage; and I love discussions about art and creativity. Because it involves the use of original physical elements, analog collage, in particular I think, speaks to something important about art -- uniqueness. I think uniqueness (and it's reciprocal, replicability) is one of the central issues in any discussion of creativity. One of the reasons I switched to collage and assemblage, after being a watercolor painter, years ago; is because I felt that my painting was not especially "creative". I would often use a photograph as a model, and simply reproduce the image in my drawing and watercolor painting. These zebras are a good example. The photographic image on the left, was used as a model to create the painting on the right.

I am proud of this painted recreation of the zebras (it took MANY hours to complete this!), but I felt that paintings like this were not very creative. They weren't tapping into "the new", "the different", "the unique". Additionally, in many ways, this painting could have been replicated by others with the training/talent to do so... including me. And in fact, forgeries of famous paintings always pique people's interest (btw, the video "Art and Craft" is a GREAT documentary of famous forger Mark Landis), and are the bane of many a museum curator.

Uniqueness is one of the hallmarks of collage, -- especially of analog collage (and here I am referring to prohibition of any photocopying, as well). Replicating an analog collage would pose a particularly prickly problem, in that it would require procurement of another set of identical images. Although this is not impossible (especially with contemporary magazines), finding vintage or rare publications of books or magazines can be challenging. And when elements are extracted from their sources, it is sometimes difficult to identify, not to mention, locate those sources. And sometimes I come across, arguably, truly unique elements. 

Here's an example. This is a stock certificate for the Thompson Spring Corporation. Not only does it appear to be a somewhat unusual element (rare?), but it is signed in ink by the "powers-that-be". So even if someone else had a stock certificate like this one, it would likely have a signature that was slightly different (small, but significant detail, I think), and most likely not made-out to the same buyer. 

I was attracted to this element initially for the standard, intricate border design; but I started experimenting with placements of various other elements (as I typically do in my creative process). When I placed this wine-pouring jester over the certificate, I really liked the integration of the matching patina and the balance of the composition itself (a two-element collage ala British collagist John Stezaker?). And to be honest, I have no recollection of where I obtained the jester element.

I really don't know whether this is a finished piece (although I do like it!). But the point of this post is that I think analog collage is uniquely unique. Analog collages are not only, literally "one of a kind"; but it would often be very to truly replicate... nigh impossible.

"The Rise Above"

Well, 2020 has not gotten any better for me... and for MANY of us. I hope that everyone is practicing physical distancing during these trying times. I get angry at the folks who are not practicing safe/healthy behaviors, as they are putting many people at risk. Please, let's ALL help one another by being safe.
During my efforts at self-quarantine, I have gotten into a comfortable routine. I get up early and spend some time (too much time?) on social media including Facebook (and the Scrabble app), e-mail, and text messaging. Then I typically go for a long walk in the neighborhood, being careful to practice physical distancing. Then it's shower lunch and work, as I try to teach 5 college classes on-line. If you are interested in seeing some of my efforts, I have videos of my statistics class on YouTube (search under SPECHT PSY211). In the evening, I have a beer or two, and then head down to my "studio" (the creative cave in my basement). I was not going down too much earlier this year, because I was depressed and uninspired. Once I "forced" myself to do it, I realized how much of a sanctuary the space is for me (external space, as well as inner space). As most of you know, experiencing "flow" is very much a form of "escapism". It's comforting to be able to find that space.
So this past week, I worked on a piece that "came together" in a bit of an unexpected way... but at another level, this is how my creative process works.

I was intrigued by this element because of its symmetry and hint of Art Deco style. This became a, in a way, a potential "seed" for a new piece. I would spend some time placing this element with other elements to try to see what might "work". Here is another "seed" element that grabbed my attention...

It is a very colorful succulent-type plant photo that was part of a calendar. Once I placed the other piece on this succulent element, it struck me as something to pursue. With the addition of an element that I had had floating around my studio for months, things really started to "gel":

The element on the bottom right was from a book entitled "Steam" from 1891. Beautiful piece with which to create perspective! I knew that element was from this book... but I didn't know where the book was located in my crazy disorganized mess of a studio. I was curious about whether, in that same book, there would be an element that I could use for the bottom, left portion of the composition.

One evening this week, I "happened" across the book again, as soon as I started to look for it. I actually took that as a good "sign" that this composition was "meant to be". AND, as luck would have it, there was another etching in the book that featured a row of furnaced receding from left to right!

Now I was getting really excited. BTW, the chalice/vase in the center was taken from The Art Journal from the late 1870s. It needed lots of micro-cutting. And micro-cutting is something that I find nerve-wracking and soothing, at the same time... if that makes ANY sense.

Once my micro-cutting was done, I painted the edges of all the elements and worked on precise placements before I finalized the piece. What you should notice in. this finished piece is the reversal of the background succulent element. I think this element could have worked either way; but I decided to do it the way you see in the finished composition, partly because I made the succulent element work in a very integral way with the chalice. Notice that it looks like it is overflowing from the chalice. This effect required no cutting. Rather, it was accomplished by careful placement of the background element. So, here is the finished piece; entitled "The Rise Above".