Untitled (San Diego Mail-Line)
collage experiment on paper by J A Dixon
4 x 5 inches
Purchase this experiment.
Archive for the ‘Experiments’ Category
March Exercise | Experiment Three
Thursday, March 3rd, 2016March Exercise | Experiment Two
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016
Untitled (PRONUNCIATION METHOD)
collage experiment on paper by J A Dixon
4 x 5 inches
Purchase this experiment.
March Exercise | Experiment One
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016
Untitled (DATE DUE Mower—Now)
collage experiment on paper by J A Dixon
4 x 5 inches
Purchase this experiment.
Tender and Wild
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.”
– Stephen Sondhiem
I was in the “Seasonal Zone,” listening to music and making a batch of hand-made greetings and collage miniatures. I began to recycle Christmas cards from previous years, and I had the idea of trying to visually merge two different but similar images. Nothing seemed to go right as my technique played out. One cannot anticipate nor contrive the “fortunate accidents” inherent in the medium. The resulting effect reminds me of an aging fresco, as if an artist had painted a Madonna and Child over another, with the decay of time and weather taking over. I rarely think too much about these things in process, with reflection arriving later. I especially enjoy when others make observations and symbolic associations of their own. Overall, I think my sweet obsession with collage may be about trying to bring some kind of harmony out of the sense of disorder that pervades much of modern perception, although I should hesitate to generalize about my personal state of being and apply it to the world.
Tender and Wild
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7 x 9.5 inches
private collection
Collage experiments as gift art
Wednesday, December 16th, 2015“Man himself is mute, and it is the image that speaks. For it is obvious that the image alone can keep pace with nature.”
— Boris Pasternak
I have come to the point where nearly all of my December gifts are hand-crafted items, many of which feature experimental images of one sort or another. Some end up being studies for larger works. Shown below are a couple of little artifacts that have resulted so far from my lead-up to the holidays — examples of how gift art can hover between descriptive categories. Both are more than greeting-card covers, but not advanced enough to be called true collage miniatures. Intrinsic value is always a matter of opinion, but, at any rate, people usually appreciate being invited into the artistic process.
two small, year-end gifts
collage artifacts by J A Dixon
(click to view larger)
For Your Protection
Monday, September 7th, 2015“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Another trip collage from my recent “fishing retreat” to the Les Cheneaux Islands of Lake Huron. Working within the constraint of limited scrap at hand is a worthwhile visual exercise in preparation for creating collage artworks at any scale.
Untitled (For Your Protection)
journal experiment by J A Dixon
6 x 6 inches
another “trip collage” exercise
Monday, June 29th, 2015“The absence of limitations is the enemy of art.”
– Orson Welles
Here is another journal experiment based on ingredient constraints. It has a more abstract emphasis, in contrast to the previous example. There are numerous ways to impose this instructive limitation. Some collage artists have been known to create a composition restricted to the random scraps found on their work surface. Others make it into collaborative play, swapping an envelope of ingredients within which to work. A speed requirement will reveal more aspects of creative decision making and give rise to other insights. Paradoxically, there is no limit to how limitations can unlock the freedom of artistic expression.
results of a “trip collage” exercise
journal experiment by J A Dixon
7.25 x 5.25 inches
It’s a trip collage, man . . .
Monday, June 22nd, 2015“It is the limitation of means that determines style, gives rise to new forms and makes creativity possible.”
– Georges Braque
From the first decision an artist makes when confronting a blank format, available options are eliminated. As contradictory as it may sound, writers, designers, musicians, dancers, visual artists — all of us find fertile ground in restriction. Working within limitations, self-imposed or otherwise, is always at the heart of the creative process. One of my preferred journal experiments is a variation I call the “trip collage.” Mind you, this has absolutely nothing to do with psychotropic escapades. However, I do periodically “expand my consciousness” of the medium with an exercise based on limited ingredients. When on holiday or outside the studio, I produce a small collage only with the elements immediately available at hand. Litter, junk mail, discarded packaging, or the detritus of a particular environment will become the instruments of a miniature orchestration. Even within this constraint, choices about what to use and what to ignore will govern the approach, and the interesting relationship between spontaneity and intuitive judgment can be observed.
results of a “trip collage” exercise
journal experiment by J A Dixon
5.5 x 6.75 inches
White space ain’t a negative thing.
Saturday, May 16th, 2015“Life is trying things to see if they work.”
– Ray Bradbury
A familiar approach to collage makes use of elements positioned on a field, activating the “white space” with a typical figure/ground relationship. Often the working substrate is carefully selected for inherent visual interest or aesthetic qualities. Like a visage with character, a single piece of “ancient” stock can speak volumes on its own. There are many other ways for “negative space” to play a key part in collage artwork. For me, experimenting with small studies in my journal can suggest a different twist, with the potential for exploitation in a more finished composition.
Untitled (IRA)
journal experiment by J A Dixon
4.375 x 4.25 inches
and another journal experiment . . .
Saturday, May 9th, 2015
Untitled (Equal)
collage experiment by J A Dixon
9.5 x 8.25 inches