BLOOD MOON is a paper collage which references the fact that when the moon is in full eclipse and illuminated by sunlight filtered by the Earth’s atmosphere it appears to be reddish in color. The next Blood Moon will occur in about 2 years. BLOOD MOON is a companion piece to SNOW MOON and is part of the “Negative to Positive” series using recycled and repurposed materials, and is 12” x 12″ (2023) ($125)
CODE BLUE is a paper collage using recycled and repurposed advertising and packaging materials, and depicting, albeit abstractly, the scene in a hospital ICU with the gurney/bed, and the electronic monitors. I think anyone who has been there will recognize it. CODE BLUE is part of my “Negative to Positive” series and it seemed seemed appropriate to use only IBX mailings in constructing it. (2022) ($125)
While FLOWERS 0F THE NIGHT uses recycled and repurposed “negative space” material, it is not part of my “Negative to Positive” series because it does not contain any of the original “negative “shape but is simply cut from that material. I got the idea for FLOWERS OF THE NIGHT when I was researching MOONFLOWER. FLOWERS OF THE NIGHT measures 10 ½” x 17” (2022) ($125)
MARIUPOL, the third paper collage in my “Commentary on Ukraine ” series was completed before the Russians finally destroyed the city and overran the outnumbered and outgunned defenders. It is intended as a tribute to the courage and tenacity of those defenders and perhaps as a suggestion that there may be modern day Alamos that need to be remembered. (2022) ($125)
Siloviki is the name given to the inner circle of advisers to Vladimir Putin all of whom have military or security service backgrounds and long-term relationships with Putin. My SILOVIKI is a paper collage of faceless men and FSP (financial security papers) torsos. While each one is different there is an overwhelming homogeneity to the group. SILOVKI, along with INVASION, MARIUPOL, and BUCHA is part of my “Commentary on Ukraine” series of collages. (2022) ( $125).
When I create a paper collage, about 33% of the time I have a very distinct idea of what I want to say and how I am going to say it, as for example INVASION or DECEMBER MORNING FOG#3. Another 33% of the time, I know roughly what I want to say, i.e., I have a concept and materials, but the actual presentation evolves as I work on it, for example PORZECZKA. And for another 33%, the piece names itself when I finish it, for example AN ORANGE CLOCKWORK. The math majors among you will note that still leaves 1%, and that is the category into which YOU TELL ME falls. I have shown it to several different people and gotten wildly different interpretations and impressions of it. I see something new in it every time I look at it, but so far it has refused to speak to me. (2022) ($125)
While I generally comment on how and why I created a piece and the inspiration for it, I believe that INVASION doesn’t need any elaboration from me other than to note that it is a paper collage using recycled advertising and packaging materials. It is matted and framed to 11” x 14” (2022)
This year is the 60th anniversary of the publication of “A Clockwork Orange”, Anthony Burgess’ novel of a dystopian future society with violent subcultures. While it is considered a classic, as is the 1971 movie based on it and with the same name, I must admit that neither ever really resonated with me. However, when I was doing the preliminary layout for the “Negative to Positive” paper collage that became AN ORANGE CLOCKWORK, I was struck by the jaggedness of the orange pieces and by the shape of the blue pieces which reminded me of clock hands and “A Clockwork Orange “came to mind. We think of “clockwork” as something that is orderly, precise, and smoothly running. AN ORANGE CLOCKWORK is sharp edged and dysfunctional. Perhaps I am starting to understand Anthony Burgess, or perhaps just our current society. (2022) ($125)
In October of 2018 I posted ARMED TEACHERS – WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG? as a response to the Parkland shootings and Donald Trump’s and the NRA’s suggested solution being to arm the teachers and “harden” the schools. Well, in May of 2022, after 19 4th grade students and 2 teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, I watched Texas public officials Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton and Dan Patrick offer their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families and once again propose arming the teachers and “hardening” the schools as the solution to mass shootings therein. Obviously, things haven’t changed in 3 ½ years, so rather than trying to express my frustration and rage in a new way, I just decided to re-post ARMED TEACHERS-WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
PORZECZKA is part of my “Negative to Positive” Series of paper collages, and no, the title is not the result of my computer’s spell check having run amok but the Polish word for currants and the name of my wife’s favorite breakfast tea. Like PAIN MANAGEMENT, SNOW MOON, ANACHRONISM, and the other pieces in the “Negative to Positive” Series PORZECZKA is made from a single source of packaging or advertising material, in this case tea boxes. The design, with the small circles, is intended to invoke “currants” and with the flowing pattern to do a play on the word “currents. (2022)
John Fansmith 