"The End is Near" is Near!!

Steven Specht has curated the international collage exhibit "The End is Near", which will be held in the Barret Art Gallery at Utica College. I am honored to be a participant and look forward to this show and all that comes with it...such as the meeting of other collage artists and art lovers, the discussion over the topic and the works, and the overall festive atmosphere that an opening reception provides. I can't wait! It seems so rare here in the hinterlands of upstate NY.

webster wagner / Palatine Bridge

The End is Near was a tough topic for me. I have an open and imaginative mind, and nothing is impossible.  Of course that day is an ending! So is today! And tomorrow! Every single day is an end and it's followed by a new beginning. In fact I feel time is in slices -- albeit small ones -- and that every waking moment is a small death decay and tiny miracle birth in time fractions so small we just don't comprehend them. But they are there.
My latest passion is in the architecture, in the buildings and the shacks, the barns and their details....I drive around the area with a bag full of various cameras (holga, lomo fisheye and colorsplash, homemade pinholes and 3 digital point and shoots!) and I pull over at random heart-tugging places and try to capture their essence. I have come off the flat paper and now I am in a 3d mode. The buildings are extending out from their bases, rendered in paper, and they are quite delicate. Their fragile structure echoes the temporal existence of the very buildings that inspired in the first place.

Stratford

These old buildings, the original owners are often long gone, yet the buildings are still here...and we reclaim them, make them our own and continue to live through them until we pass them on. I  loaded up these fragile little paper dwellings with random tidbits of recycled jewelry treasure, little shells, and wired beads that were culled from costume jewelry pieces of days gone by. They provide a sparkle of new life to the little paper shacks. It's a symbol of the new beginning.

Argusville II

Argusville

These 4 pieces will be hanging in the exhibit. The last one Argusville, has a collage on the inside. The mirror behind the building on the base reflects this image, if you bother to look. To prompt you, there's a switch that leads to a LED that lights up behind the building. And there you have Interactive Art!

I look forward to seeing the interpretations of the other artists that are involved and will be sure to share mega photos before, during and after!!