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new collage: redeemable

 
"redeemable"
mixed media collage on wood door
found papers, acrylic paint, found objects, glue
august, 2012


 
 in general, i have no problem getting rid of things.  i am prone to throwing things out in the name of neatness, because i don't like messes.  but when it comes to art and my creative sense, i am sometimes about a half a step away from being a hoarder.  i see potential and beauty and meaning in the most basic objects.  so what you see (or don't see at all!) as a discarded gum wrapper lying beside the road, waiting for some community servant to come poke with a stick, i see as a splash of pink that might help me say just what i want to say on a canvas.  or sometimes, as in the case of this new collage, it is the canvas itself that is a rescued object. 

two years, only a couple of months after we had moved to central pennsylvania, we were driving one night when we passed a wooden door by the side of the road, in front of a house.  there was a sign hanging on the door, and the sign spoke that word that even as i think of it now sends goosebumps running across my skin: FREE. 

shannon:  why are we stopping? 
greg:  i just want to check it out.
shannon:  greg, it's a door.
greg:  yeah, i see that.  i want to take a look.
shannon:  why?  we don't need a door. 
greg:  not for such utilitarian uses as you may be accustomed to, but maybe for my art.
shannon:  (voice raising) greg, no way.  it's  huge.  how are you even going to put it in the v...(van door shuts)

needless to say we went home with the door that night.  and it has been sitting in my art room ever since.  and while i am certain that shannon has, on more than one occasion, shaken her head at me and knowingly thought to herself that i would never do anything with it, i finally have!  i finally felt inspired to use it as my canvas for a new collage. 

first i covered it with vintage papers.  then i washed the whole thing in a white acrylic wash.  then i collaged over the vintage papers, creating a cross that appears to be behind the door, in a way, or on the other side.  i was somewhat compelled by the sheer size of the cross: lifesize. 

below are a bunch of details of the collage itself, including the skeleton key that i found and put in the door as an added element.  it's sort of big for storing, and i don't really expect to be able to sell such a big piece, so we'll have to see if i can find a happy little home for it somehow. 







 


 

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New York Photographer said…
Nice pictures you have shared and good described... Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.
9:29 AM
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