FIFTY SHADES OF GREEN is a paper collage which uses two basic shapes: circles and triangles, to create both a feeling of motion and a sense of confinement within a single, if broadly defined palette. Everything in FIFTY SHADES OF GREEN, including the title, is recycled. Matted and framed to 18” x 14
BIG CLIPS AND BUMP STOCKS, a paper collage, is a follow up to SANDY HOOK: HOPES, FEARS AND THE NRA and was started after the Las Vegas shootings. Both pieces use the same materials (recycled paper and light cardboard) and tools (scissors, and a paper punch), recognizing that virtually nothing changed between the two events except the scale of the massacre which is reflected by the larger size of BIG CLIPS AND BUMP STOCKS. While I would prefer to stop with BIG CLIPS AND BUMP STOCKS, in reality, I expect this to be an ongoing series. Matted and framed to 18” x 24”.
I am very happy to announce that my paper collage, ARMED TEACHERS: WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG? has been chosen by juror Robert Doak as the Third Place Winner in the Art Scene Today, “Natural and UnNatural Disasters” On-line Competition. ARMED TEACHERS: WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG? can be viewed at the Art Scene Today web site: artscenetoday.com/juried-exhibitions.
As I expected, SANDY HOOK: HOPES, DREAMS, AND THE NRA and BIG CLIPS AND BUMP STOCKS turned out to be not the only two pieces in what I am calling “The Second Amendment” Series. ARMED TEACHERS: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? was started after Parkland as my response to the proposal by President Trump and the NRA that the way to prevent future school violence was to have teachers carrying guns in the classroom. Once again, a paper collage using recycled paper and cardboard, scissors and a paper punch. Matted and framed to 13” x 19”
I have always been interested in how various cultures, including my own, seek to explain creation and our existence. For example, the phrase “breath of God” appears 58 times in the Bible, Old and New Testament, always in the context of creation. My CREATION: THE BREATH OF GOD, a paper collage using recycled heavy paper and light cardboard, draws upon one of these references, Psalm 33, line 6 : “by the breath of his mouth all their host” for its particular inspiration. Matted and framed to 16” x 20”.
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 21st 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 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”.
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”.
Tribute Poster w_ names
John Fansmith 