Some New Work...

I haven't given up on making art for myself, yet, though it gets more and more difficult to find the time to do so. I'd been working on this piece on and off for the last couple of months. Due to an evening of unrelenting insomnia, I was able to finish this one off in a two-hour stretch,

Not a new way to do collage, by any means, but it is new to me and one I've been dabbling in for the past year. Like halftones, I've been a fan of the torn edge look for ever. I especially like this visual in places where walls are covered with torn bits of posters and handbills. I try to obtain a similar look in my own art without confusing my style with those I'm inspired by. My focus with this collage style is primarily typography and color, how they interact with each other and the torn edges. Visually, the work serves as a reflection of the anxiety I feel when I'm constantly bombarded by the visual stimuli of social media. Somehow, though, paper has become my main media of late, and I'm still able to maintain my usual pallet of bright color.

This piece is not that big, probably 11" x 14" (if I had to guess...it's not in front of me as i write this). I am working on a few other pieces in similar style, though they are taking me longer to produce (and maybe that's a good thing). I source a lot of my material from vintage magazines and newspapers, and i only use pieces that have the right look and feel. Research takes time.

This is probably once of the few times in my career where I've made art that wasn't against a hard deadline, which has been completely freeing. This is also the first time I've been able to stockpile art over the last few years many people have not seen. One of these days, I'll stage an exhibition of all this work, or at least collect them in a book for someone to enjoy.

Whoever inherits my estate won't know what do do with all this stuff...