Collage

NUCLEAR FAMILY: 2018

NUCLEAR FAMILY: 2018 is a combination print and collage which superimposes two images (male and female) from my AN AMERICAN FACE Series on a hard surface monotype background in order to emphasize one of the many risks that the “nuclear family” will face in 2018. The angles and palette of the background, the merging of the images with the background at points, the disembodied nature of the images and the thin black border line all point to the other use of the term “nuclear”. Matted and framed to 18” x 14”.

TRIBUTE SHOW

Fabulon Poster Tribute Poster w_ names

I am very pleased to announce that juror Susan Irish has invited my paper collages, ON SUBWAY WALLS and …AND TENEMENT HALLS into the Tribute Show at the Fabulon Art Center in Charleston, South Carolina. The Tribute Show, which is about the relationship between music and the visual arts and particularly how music is expressed by visual artists, will run from October 6, 2017 until December 6, 2017 with a reception on October 21^st from 5 until 8 PM. The Fabulon Art Center is located at 1017 Wappoo Road, Charleston, SC 29407.

SANDY HOOK: HOPES, DREAMS AND THE NRA

SANDY HOOK: HOPES, DREAMS AND THE NRA is a paper collage which, in a very simple way, seeks to express my continuing sorrow and outrage over the Sandy Hook massacre. Time has not dulled either. The materials and tools used in creating this piece consisted of the type of “glitter” paper that could be found in an elementary school art program, a paper punch and white “school” glue. Matted and framed to 13” x 19”.

ON SUBWAY WALLS

Like …AND TENEMENT HALLS, ON SUBWAY WALLS is a colored paper collage which draws from the Simon and Garfunkel song The Sounds of Silence. While the materials and palette in both pieces are essentially the same (heavy paper/ thin cardboard – cut from advertising and packaging materials), changing the background from white to black and eliminating internal “negative space” darkens the tone and sets the piece underground. In the song, the phrase “on the subway walls” precedes “and tenement halls”, but for me, in doing the collages, the initial working image was of a cityscape and the subway developed as a companion piece. Matted and framed to 12” x 16”.

…AND TENEMENT HALLS

The title for my colored paper collage, …AND TENEMENT HALLS, comes from part of an iconic line in the Simon and Garfunkel song The Sounds of Silence; although my choice of palette is probably a more colorful and upbeat presentation than an accurate one. There is little point in having artistic license if you can’t abuse it now and then. Matted and framed to 12” x 16”.

THE GREEN MAN: WINTER

THE GREEN MAN: WINTER, the second in my “Seasonal Green Man” Series, like THE GREEN MAN: AUTUMN is a paper collage using paper that I specifically hand inked and hand pulled, this time to reflect the colors of winter – white, gray, blue and black. So while the primary and secondary contours of the image remain the same, the seasons have changed. Matted and Framed to 14” x 18”.

THE GREEN MAN: AUTUMN

THE GREEN MAN: AUTUMN marks my return to a favorite topic: the folklore, legends and mythology of the “Green Man”, something I’ve explored in a number of different mediums. This time the medium is paper collage using paper that I hand inked and hand pulled specifically for this piece. Mounted on mat board and matted and framed to 18”x 14”, THE GREEN MAN: AUTUMN is the first on an intended four part “seasonal” series.

John Fansmith

Artist