Breaking from the grid (baby steps)

For the past few weeks I've been back to working on an ongoing series of small collage-on-glass pieces. It's a body of work that I seem to revisit about once a year when I get the urge to play with collage. I usually spend a month or two with it until I burn out or get distracted and move on to something else.

I've noticed that my inclination so to arrange things in a grid so this year I'm trying to make a conscious effort to avoid doing this, and to also work with more rounded/circular elements. It's hard for me to let go of the grid (and I haven't completely in most of the pieces so far) but I feel like the exercise has been worth the effort so far.

Anyway, here are some examples - most don't have titles (yet); each is collage on bristol boad, mounted on glass. Overall dimensions of the glass is 4 x 3-1/4"

 Double Lucky

 Untitled

 Georgia Satellite

 Rogue Wave

 

 Untitled

 

 Bad Cartography

 Black Forest

 Shark Week

 Untitled

 Untitled

Untitled

work in progress

Something New (Typography)

Letter Bomb. 2011.
collage on found book page. 7 x 4-1/4"

Kiss Army. 2011.
carbon on found library card. 5 x 3"

Test Patterns (Mea Cupla)

Another from the Test Pattern series. It's curious to me how many of these are turning out sideways. Here's the original collage study with it's "proper" orientation of two stacked rows of vertical bands:



Below is the completed 8 x 8" painting. It took a good bit of fussing to get the left half of the piece to work - I had to tinker with the hues of the blue bands to get them to relate to the blue form at the bottom center, and to get just the right right-leaning slant so that all of the forms balanced. I also mirrored the pink & red forms from the upper right in the dark vertical band at the top center:



For comparison here's the original collage study rotated to match the orientation of the finished painting:


I've been thinking about the differences between the small collage studies and the (slightly) larger panel paintings. One thing I've noticed is the larger pieces are much more dense - the forms are usually more opaque and delineated, whereas the smaller collages are more fluid and offhand. In both cases I think it works okay - the larger pieces seem more solid and hold the wall better while the smaller studies are more intimate and sexy. Anyway, just my thoughts - yours?

Test Patterns Test Patterns Test Patterns

Here's another Test Pattern painting that I finished yesterday. The first image below is the original 4 x 3-1/4" collage that I did last week and the following three images are of the completed 6-1/2 x 8" painting. Media includes collage, gouache, acrylic, ink, gesso, and colored pencil on laminated panel. I think I prefer a horizontal orientation for this one- it reads more as a landscape and seems more balanced than it does vertically.

original collage

finished painting

Finally, another Test Pattern collage study - I'll probably do a larger painting from this one as well (after I finish the one I'm currently working on - stay tuned...):

More Test Patterns (again)

Here's another larger Test Pattern. I used this piece as a starting point and although the colors and brushwork came out differently, I think I'm happy with the end result- this one is 12 x 12 inches square:




I also did a third 12 x 12 in. piece that just didn't work out - I altered the composition somewhat from the original study, and then couldn't get the colors to match up to my satisfaction. I still had hopes that the piece would pull together when I added the final collage element but nope, it just didn't work - the overall composition was static and just had no "bounce" and the dark green square at the top center was too dominant. Oh, well - time to break out the power tools, sand it down, and start over again:

More Test Patterns

As I mentioned in an earlier post I've been working on a series of small works partially inspired by color television test patterns - here's another batch that I've recently completed:







I also decided to use one of the small Test Patterns as a starting point for a larger piece. First I glued up and cut out a 8 x 8 x 1-3/8" laminated plywood panel and attached a ground of white bristol board. Then, using the smaller piece as a template I sketched out the composition on the larger panel, doubling the size of all of the elements of the original 4 x 4" piece.




Next I began the process of trying to replicate the various color elements using colored tissue paper, gouache, gesso, acrylic, oil pastel, and ink. This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated - how hard can it be to duplicate a color that's right in front of you? Pretty #*&@% difficult if you can't remember the various layers and combinations of media that you used in the first place.

The image below shows the first step in trying to duplicate the reddish bands that are at the top of the original piece. Once completed each color element was glued to the surface of the panel, pressed to dry, and the excess collaged material trimmed from the edges.


Here's the finished piece - I think I'm happy with how it turned out although I think I prefer the green field at the top and the red field at the bottom.

Yo La Tengo - From a Motel 6

Test Patterns

Taking all these viewfinder photos has got me thinking about color; or more specifically how I usually try to avoid thinking about color. So I've decided to set myself up with a project where color is the primary focus. I've begun with several sheets of paper to which I've glued blocks of tissue paper in a variety of colors, to which I have added swaths of colored gouache, gesso, colored pencil, and inks. The goal is to create a wide range of color variations.

The next step is to take the sheets and to cut them into 2- and 2-3/4 inch strips, then to cut the strips into random squares, occasionally adding more color with gouache and ink. Some of these remind me of swatches of madras fabric.

The final step is to use these colored squares as building blocks for collages, not unlike putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Here are some finished pieces - with some of these I've incorporated collage elements from other sources, such as text fragments from old comic books. I'm thinking I might use some of these as studies for larger pieces (these are approx. 4 x 4 in. square.) They remind me of color television test patterns:

What the Pictures Sound Like

So where do the ideas come from? It depends, but most times I try to work intuitively within a predetermined set of guidelines (specific materials, display format, size, etc.). Afterwards I may notice some connection between a finished piece and something I may have recently read, seen, or listened to. For this post I'd like to give two examples of the latter.

Planet of Sound. 2006.
collage, pastel, gouache, ink, and gesso on paper, mounted on glass.
8-1/4 x 7-1/2 in. (framed)

This piece sat around half-finished (the bottom half) for several months - the mirrored solid shape at the bottom center was clipped from an old geometry textbook, the form of which reminded me of an example of brutalist architecture. The piece was finally resolved when I paired the bottom half with a leftover scap from another collage for the top half. The boxy form at the top again reminded me of architecture, but with rays or beams entering (or exiting?) from a hole in the roof. Once the piece was finished I knew the title would be Planet of Sound, after the UFO-inspired song by the Pixies from their 1991 album Trompe le Monde:

Next up is a more recent piece:

Inca Dinka Doo. 2008.
collage, ink, gesso, pencil, and shellac on paper, mounted on glass.
8-1/4 x 7-1/2 in. (framed)

This collage is a jigsaw of leftover scraps from other projects. The trick is to both get the pieces to literally fit together (just like a jigsaw puzzle), and to balance everything visually. The completed collage reminded me of a wall of Inca masonry (see photo below), which then lead to the title for the piece, which I cribbed (and bastardized) from the old Jimmy Durante chestnut, Inka Dinka Doo.

Inca stone wall (photo courtesy flickr)

Due to copyright restrictions I couldn't find a video of Durante performing Inka Dinka Doo. However, here's Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin performing Inka Dinka Doo as part of a Durante tribute on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show, October 19, 1959 (it's a long clip well worth watching; the song starts at around 2:20):

Finally - just to show how everything's related, here's Jimmy Durante performing In Outer Space (We're Going UFOing):