You are invited to visit Kleinhelter Gallery next month to view LITTER-ally KENTUCKY in New Albany, Indiana.
This collection of collage landscapes created en plein air makes its fourth appearance, and I’ll present my first multi-day workshop in June. Stop back here soon to learn more about these hands-on opportunities and to register for a spot. New Albany (just across the Ohio from Louisville) is a splendid destination. I hope you make plans to see these artworks in person!
“I don’t want a picture, I want a painting.”
— Raimonds Staprāns
Sometimes a day on location feels like “going to work in the morning again.” By the time I find a good spot to sit, everything changes. Being present in a natural place elicits the rapt attention that calls for the immediacy and spontaneity of painting from life. For me, it just happens to be paper and paste. That it would turn out this way is something I never could’ve predicted. Included here is my “start” from a recent outing to Marion County, Kentucky. In the studio (without a breeze), I shall add two round bales and the essential dose of March daffodils.
Fat Tuesday seems as good a day as any to finish a pair of collage miniatures that clearly fall into the category of “catharsis.” Not all artwork in the Merz tradition is specifically purgative, but the synchronicity inherent in this dynamic approach lends itself to the impulse.
“I called it Merz. This new process whose principle was the use of any material. It was the second syllable of Kommerz. It first appeared in Merzbild, a painting in which, apart from its abstract forms, one could read Merz, cut and pasted from an advertisement for Kommerz und Privatbank. I was looking for a term to designate this new genre, for I could not classify my paintings under old labels such as expressionism, cubism, futurism, and so on.”
— Kurt Schwitters
Mere Scrupulosity
collage miniature on canvas panel
8 x 10 inches, in the Merz tradition
“The landscapes that I choose to paint are tied by a common thread, a sense of nostalgia, a setting that at once is current, but also captures a sense of the (Sacramento) valley that hasn’t changed for many years. I believe that landscapes live in us.”
— Phil Gross
While away from the studio, with limited collage ingredients, I made a miniature copy of a splendid oil painting by Phil Gross. I’ll probably add a few finishing touches and then decide if it’s appropriate to sign it. This turned out to be a very different kind of exercise than any other paper landscape that I’ve done. My thanks to Rowland William Breidenbach for the opportunity to spend time with this landscape.
California Theme (after Phil Gross)
unfinished collage landscape by J A Dixon
10 x 8 inches
framed: 16.75 x 13.75 inches
• S O L D
A RIVER CONNECTION: Artists of Asheville opens at Kleinhelter today. The gallery in New Albany, Indiana presents a fundraiser for artists affected by flood damage from Hurricane Helene. 100% of sales will go to help them rebuild. Some of my collage landscapes from the autumn exhibition will continue to be displayed separately. If any of these find a buyer, I will contribute $100 each to the relief fund. The show lasts until February 22, 2025.
Please consider helping out.
Looking East
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
10.125 x 7.75 inches, 2024
(appreciation to Rich Brimer at The Art Distillery)
“I’ve reevaluated myself and my work. I see that continually calling people jerks can never be a solution. Furthermore, I’m not too certain that political statements, credos, or philosophies solve anything.”
— Philip Burke
Evilution
collage catharsis by J A Dixon
8 x 9.5 inches
“My father told me when I was a little boy that people in authority lie and the job in a democracy is to remain skeptical. I’ve been science-based since I was a kid. Show me the evidence and I’ll believe you, but I’m not going to take the word of official narratives. The way you do research is not by asking authoritative figures what they think. Trusting experts is not a feature of science, and it’s not a feature of democracy.”
— Robert F Kennedy Jr
When I indulge the impulse to have a collage catharsis, the Fred Otnes influence of my editorial past often bubbles to the surface. So be it. Wishing everybody a new year brimming with creativity, marked by discernment, and devoid of fear!
American Janus
collage catharsis by J A Dixon
11 x 10 inches
Noise Maker
collage experiment by J A Dixon
6.5 x 8.75 inches
