Untitled (DATE DUE Mower—Now)
collage experiment on paper by J A Dixon
4 x 5 inches
Purchase this experiment.
Archive for the ‘J A Dixon’ Category
March Exercise | Experiment One
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016Much more about JUXTAPOSE . . .
Monday, February 29th, 2016Friend and fellow collage artist Kathleen O’Brien is in the midst of her countdown to a big solo show in April. She asked me to do a favor and share a guest review as part of her final promotions for JUXTAPOSE before Drawn to the Earth requires her full concentration. As excited as I am about the group exhibition in Danville, it was a tougher post to write than I first anticipated. Collage is not the easiest art form on which to expound, perhaps because it relies on the “logic” of irrational choices.
At any rate, my dedicating a blogsite to that very topic was nobody else’s idea, so I best not complain to those of you kind enough to visit here. Would I rather be making art? Of course. Even so, I cannot constrain my enthusiasm for all things collage. Here’s my take on a great show. Be forewarned: If you’re looking for some criticism, you won’t find it!
I’ll admit it. I can’t get enough of JUXTAPOSE. The current exhibition of collage and assemblage is at the Community Arts Center until April 2nd. That’s not exactly the most humble thing to say, considering it features a dozen works by yours truly, so I won’t pretend that I can offer an unbiased review. Program director Brandon Long has organized a finely curated, must-see destination that brings together over a thousand examples of the two associated mediums (literally, but I’ll explain that in a moment). This is an unprecedented group show for the Bluegrass-based artists involved, and I am thrilled to be exhibiting side-by-side with Kathleen O’Brien, Teri Dryden, Robert Hugh Hunt, Meg Higgins, Connie Beale, Cynthia Carr, and many others. No doubt my enthusiasm has something to do with its location less than a city block from my studio, which bestows the luxury of repeated immersions, and there is over a month left in the duration!
There are more participants than I can profile individually, and far too many artworks to highlight. The best example of this is a room devoted to three complete year-long series of collage-a-day works by O’Brien, Long, and Nan Martindale. Combined with almost one hundred seventy of Robert Hugh Hunt’s provocative collage collaborations, the magnitude of miniature artworks presented in a single space could be overwhelming. As an exhibition designer, Long uses geometric grids, browsing boxes, and two flat-screen displays to make the huge collection comprehensible for viewers. O’Brien’s sensitive, meticulously layered collection of daily two-sided postcards is a journey to which I surrender with pleasure each time I visit, but only after a jolting romp through Hunt’s rarely exhibited Hillbilly Voodoo series with T R Flowers.
An opportunity to view works by six outstanding Louisville-based artists is worth the trip to Danville. Several major works by Meg Higgins captured my first impression. Two enormous pieces composed with transparent elements sandwiched between Plexiglas are suspended between the vestibule and grand gallery. I was equally impressed by a smaller collage on wood panel, Japanese Peony Goes to Italy, with its exquisite East-West flavor. Brad Devlin’s solid but clever exploitation of found objects yields bold abstractions that simultaneously maintain a strong environmental essence. His Open Sunday is also physically more complex than it first appears, and this allows the artisanship of his assemblage to become a secondary experience deserving of scrutiny. Masters of juxtaposition who reinforce the theme of the exhibition as well as anyone taking part, Patrick Donley, Lisa Austin and Brandon Bass each define a distinctive individual style. Approach to composition, color considerations, and a playful choice of ingredients form undercurrents that tie their pieces together, and Long knows how to modulate the walls in a way that makes groupings of their work satisfying to study. Although she has recently gained attention for her paintings, there are at least seven panels by Teri Dryden from a handsome body of work created from discarded books. Her Monteith’s Marrakesh exemplifies how her investigation successfully transcended the source material. Personally, I hope she rotates to collage again for another dynamic round of re-purposing cast-off items.
In addition to displaying a pair of shadow boxes, my only surrealist assemblage, and six favorite collage miniatures, JUXTAPOSE provides an opportunity to exhibit Bull’s-eye Nosegay for the first time, which I created for the Target Practice Project initiated by L T Holmes. Also, I did two larger collage artworks especially for this show. Each makes more than a fleeting nod to artists who I admire. What is it about Cherry Balm that causes me to think I just might be “tipping my beret” to the inimitable Matthew Rose? Reliquia is my tribute to the late Fred Otnes, a giant within the medium who has been a force in my consciousness since adolescence. Pearallelograms was held over from the previous exhibition at the institution, but the crowning delight for me may well be the presence of Kentucky Madonna, last year’s “finish” by Robert Hugh Hunt to my “start.” The collaborative piece is a companion to one currently hanging with the IT TAKES TWO exhibition of collaborations at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea. Robert and I can’t ask for more than to know that both are now available for public observation (unless someone wants to give them a good home).
I am no art historian, but I can’t help but be mindful of the pioneering artists who laid a hundred-year foundation for the sweeping diversity of this exhibition. The creative innovations of Picasso, Braque, Duchamp, Schwitters, Höch, Cornell, Johnson, and Kolář reverberate throughout the building. In many respects, all contemporary collage/assemblage is a tacit homage to these seminal influences, but that is never the only thing at work nor the only phenomena to be perceived when one indulges an exhibition of this scope. Most artists are striving for a personal means of expression informed by those who have made their enduring mark on a medium. I am convinced, more than ever, that what distinguishes contemporary collage/assemblage artists is their keen connection to the mundane “stuff” of culture and the inner need to bring a measure of order and harmony from the sheer volume of material produced by our throw-away society, with its chaotic effect on our sensibilities — to create value where none exists, or to find wonder, meaning, significance, and beauty where none can be expected.
Japanese Peony Goes to Italy
Meg Higgins
collage on wood panel
Open Sunday
Brad Devlin
assemblage, found objects
Strength
Patrick Donley
mixed-media on wood
Bird’s Eye View
Lisa Austin
collage
Monteith’s Marrakesh
Teri Dryden
collage from discarded books on panel
Cherry Balm
John Andrew Dixon
collage on canvas
available for purchase
Reliquia
John Andrew Dixon
collage on framed panel
• S O L D
Spot Checker
Monday, February 22nd, 2016“I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
— Marcel Duchamp
The generous invitation to create new works for JUXTAPOSE had me thinking about constructing my first surrealist assemblage, but I had no specific concept in mind. I had some ruined wood frames, ornate in style, and started cutting them with a mitre saw to form a Swiss cross. To be honest, I didn’t want to use that symbol, so it was easy to “cancel” the idea by rotating it 45 degrees, and now I had an X to “mark the spot.” Dead end? There had to be more to it than that. I shifted my attention to completing a collage, and I must have unwittingly assigned the problem to my subconscious, because I awoke after a night’s sleep with the total solution in my head. How can one explain something like that (or Dada, for that matter)?
A few words of caution, however: Don’t actually plug it in.
Spot Checker
assemblage by J A Dixon
30 x 30 inches (+ “tail”)
available for purchase
Monday, February 15th, 2016
The customary Valentine’s Day division of labor: I make a card and my sweetheart bakes a cherry pie. Don’t you agree that I get the better side of this deal?
Hearts for Dana, 2016
collage greeting card by J A Dixon
7.875 x 5.25 inches
JUXTAPOSE opens in Danville, Kentucky
Friday, February 12th, 2016
An outstanding group show of Kentucky-based collage and assemblage artists has opened in my hometown at the local Community Arts Center, and it is an unprecedented exhibit of these mediums for our geographic area. Thanks to the support of the Corning Incorporated Foundation, curator Brandon Long has organized a must-see destination, and I am thrilled and gratified to be a part of it, along with Robert Hugh Hunt, Teri Dryden, Kathleen O’Brien, Lisa Austin, Patrick Donley, Brad Devlin, and others. With create-your-own-collage installations and multiple sets of 365 miniatures from full-year collage-a-day challenges, it is more than a typical exhibition. And where else can one experience 162 cards made available for public viewing by prolific collage collaborator Hunt, including items from his Hillbilly Voodoo series? Please pay a return visit here at this site for much more about this show!
JUXTAPOSE collage and assemblage artists at the opening reception—
Front row, left to right: Meg Higgins, Virginia Birney, Cynthia Carr,
Nan Martindale, Kathleen O’Brien. Back row: Patrick Donley, Brad Devlin,
Brandon Long, Robert Hugh Hunt, John Andrew Dixon.
162 collage collaborations
R H Hunt, T R Flowers, and various artists
Cherry Balm (detail)
collage on canvas by J A Dixon
20 x 16 inches
Give Him Wine!
Monday, February 8th, 2016“Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”
– Frank Zappa
Obviously, collage is not made out of nothing, but the ingredient elements can be little more than rubbish — material of scant value, or literally with no intrinsic worth. Find the most rejected, undesirable, recycling-bin content, castoffs destined for a landfill, or something which never should have been thoughtlessly tossed out a truck window in the first place, and you have the potential for art. That idea excites me nearly as much as the ensuing process of reclaiming it for a new purpose.
Give Him Wine!
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.5 x 9 inches
Purchase this artwork!
Collage and the Meaning of Existence
Sunday, January 31st, 2016Sorry about that title. I am having a bit of fun with the search engines.
On a serious note, today’s entry is about how collage can be put to the service of more than irony, shock, whimsy, irreverence, or cynicism. Let me say first, if you please, that all those things can be valid, even pleasurable, effects. They are rooted deeply in the history of the medium. One could make the case that a collage artwork is never more than a step or two removed from the essence of dada, surrealism, or popism. On the other hand, for me, there are times when that creative genealogy is best put aside, in favor of a different tone.
Developing works with special meaning to those for which they were intended has always been some of the most fulfilling time I have spent as an artist. Collage has the potential to capture profound significance for a recipient, especially when it is personalized with meaningful artifacts and memorabilia. Also, there is an opportunity for the artist to thoughtfully select and integrate additional ingredient elements for greater depth and layered associations.
The project featured below began with a discussion about how all of us accumulate “stuff” that will never rise to the level of a family heirloom, but cannot be comfortably discarded because it has true meaning in the context of one’s journey in life. The patron took to heart my offer to embed many of these things in an artistic expression that would likely become a treasure for descendants instead of a burden of disposition. With the capacity to transcend the “scrapbook,” fine art collage is ideally suited for such an endeavor.
It was the client’s idea to approach the commission as a triptych, or three separate panels, that would convey the themes of body, mind, and spirit. I wanted the components to work as a total piece, but also for each to have a stand-alone quality. Whether they stay together or part company will be left to future circumstances and decisions. The resulting “legacy collage” is a distinctive creation that preserves images representing the life and guiding principles of a unique individual. It has been my honor to provide that creative service to her.
Body ~ Mind ~ Spirit
John Andrew Dixon
three legacy collage artworks on structured panels
16 x 24 inches each
private collection
Are there any rules for collage?
Sunday, January 24th, 2016“Ever have one of those collages where every time you add something, it just makes it more difficult to finish?”
– T R Flowers
What Terry Flowers alludes to in his recent question to collage artists is certainly an ever-present concern for a minimalist, but even a maximalist can find it difficult to discover the proper conclusion for a collage. Some say that the medium of collage has no rules. I think of it more as the rules changing in front of us until a balanced resolution takes shape, and then, perhaps arbitrarily, victory can be declared.
Unit Citation
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.5 x 9.375 inches
Purchase this artwork!
details from Pearallelograms
Sunday, January 17th, 2016“The artist is a collector of things imaginary or real. He accumulates things with the same enthusiasm that a little boy stuffs his pockets. The scrap heap and the museum are embraced with equal curiosity.”
— Paul Rand
One of my first large-scale collage concepts was an artwork I called Pearallel Universe. When it was purchased by a regional health care system to hang in a new patient facility, I temporarily set aside the “visual pun.” After creating Pearental Discretion last year, I continued to accumulate images in anticipation of another takeoff on the pear theme. I also had been looking to break out of the conventional rectilinear format by exploring thumbnail concepts with polygonal shapes. When the parallelogram repeatedly occurred in my tiny sketches, the two ideas merged, unsurprisingly, as Pearallelograms.
This latest collage construction is another attempt to liberate collage from the typical “framed-behind-glass” approach, to recapture the medium’s painterly roots with an exposed surface that can stand on its own, and to introduce a more three-dimensional context that presents the end result as an “artifact.” I would hope that I had a bit of success at meeting these objectives. So far, the piece has been well received.
In what is becoming a ritual post-mortem for bigger collage artworks, I have repeatedly cropped the composition to explore and internalize aspects that may not have been apparent to me during creative formation. It is something I recommend to fortify intuition. To be honest, I would rather not be thinking consciously about the design dynamics in process, but I can only maintain that orientation by imposing a rational critique on my work after the fact. This sometimes leads to the closing refinement of an unfinished piece. More importantly, it also provides a stronger foundation for spontaneity in the future.
My goal was to use many pears — as design elements,
for thematic rhythm, and as devices for a surreal touch.
As elements, the chosen thematic objects should oscillate
between representation and abstraction.
Diagonals with pears as “end points” were applied to
three negative areas that needed more spatial activation.
The last pear image was positioned between profiles and
resonates with a more literal treatment at the very top.
The final subject was “built” with an actual dried iris petal,
the torn image of a peacock feather, and a cut-paper stem.
Thanks for visiting! Forgive me if today’s entry is too verbose, because I generally try to avoid that. If, however, you don’t mind if I wax wordy, please register and comment here to let me know. I promise to reply.
New Year New Art, 2016
Sunday, January 10th, 2016“The pitch is fairly simple – we invite a bunch of our favorite local and regional artists to show us their latest work – made since August of this year. The artists have a ton of energy and momentum for this show because they know that people will see their work, they know that the other artists are putting together something amazing, so there is a lot of positive peer pressure to make some outstanding work.”
— Brandon Long
One of my most anticipated exhibitions of the year is the annual New Year New Art show at our local Community Arts Center. For the fourth year running, the invitational has been organized by Brandon Long. The current installment is the biggest ever. A versatile artist and designer in his own right, Long is a confidante, motivator, and energetic ambassador for the arts in Central Kentucky. He has both the artist’s and the institution’s best interests at heart, and that is not an easy balancing act to pull off. Whatever else may transpire in the year to follow, it is gratifying to display new work of my own choosing among friends and fellow collage artists such as Kathleen O’Brien and Connie Beale. If you are in the area and weather cooperates, be sure to check out this outstanding January show.
Knowing that whatever I create will have a public unveiling, surrounded by selections from some of the finest regional artists, has challenged me to transcend self-imposed perceptions about the medium of collage. It also has spurred me to lift my artisanship up another notch for the upcoming year. Two ideas converged to spark Pearallelograms — more details about the piece in my next entry.
Pearallelograms
collage construction by J A Dixon
22 x 22 inches
available for purchase
Collaboration in Collage, part 4
Sunday, January 3rd, 2016“Connecting unexpected people, places, objects, and ideas provides a huge boost to your imagination. You can practice this skill by using provocative metaphors, interacting with those outside your normal circles, building on existing ideas, and finding inspiration in unlikely places.”
— Tina Seelig
As the international cross-pollination of collage artists advances into the new year, facebook.com continues to be a significant crossroads for active collaborators. The BINGO-card project of Terry Flowers is pushing the boundaries of imagination, and Kevin Brandtner’s enormous margarine-card initiative shows no sign of winding down. The Vienna-based artist came into the possession of about 1,000 small vintage images ideally suited to visual modification. They date from the 1950s and were clearly intended as promotional collectibles (“originally produced for advertising purposes by the margarine company ‘Sannella,’ picturing the adventures of various German men,” according to Brandtner). Under his facebook screen name, Geronimo Finn, he invited collage artists from around the world to accept three cards of his choosing and to collaborate with him by 1) providing a finish to one of his starts, 2) offering one start for him to finish, and 3) completing one solo collage. A book documenting all or many of the resulting artworks is an open possibility, but it is difficult for anyone to predict how long the project will last before “Geronimo” pulls the ripcord.
For the “finish,” I embedded an aesthetically integrated, but out-of-context, factory town-scape as subtle support for Kevin’s armed observer. By contrast, my “start” is a hyper-macabre parody of aboriginal stereotypes, and I look forward to his response. For the assigned solo treatment, I could not resist perpetuating the microscopic-creature-as-monster cliché.
Untitled (Zebraville)
a collage collaboration by J A Dixon and K Brandtner
(card selection and start by Brandtner, finish by Dixon)
Sammelwerk Afrika, Bild 33: Zebras und Gnus her Tränke
13.6 x 9.7 centimeters
Untitled (Baby Head Stew)
a collage collaboration by J A Dixon and K Brandtner
(card selection by Brandtner, start by J A Dixon, finish to come)
Sammelwerk Australien, Bild 79: Erdo fen der Maoris
13.7 x 9.8 centimeters
Untitled (Mighty Mite)
a collage collaboration by J A Dixon and K Brandtner
(card selection by Brandtner, solo completion by Dixon)
Sammelwerk Australien, Bild 52: Auf dem Barriereriff
9.8 x 13.7 centimeters