{"id":10208,"date":"2018-01-22T19:08:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T23:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/?p=10208"},"modified":"2018-02-13T11:21:21","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T15:21:21","slug":"haus-of-categories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/archives\/10208","title":{"rendered":"Haus of Categories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs an art of its time, collage art \u2014 its imagery, its techniques, its attitude \u2014 speaks to our confrontation with a fractured multifarious image of the world in an age of information overload. The activities of sifting, sorting, organizing and prioritizing has become the basis and the goal of artistic activity in this hummingbird era of ADHD\u201d
\n\u2014 Cecil Touchon<\/p>\n

\u201cA light bulb in the socket is worth two in the pocket.\u201d
\n\u2014 Bill Wolf
\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Categorization is integral to the practice of collage. It is part and parcel of the ongoing acquisition, storage, and retrieval of compositional ingredients. I doubt if there is a dedicated collage artist out there who does not possess a particular method of processing the studio material that results in a work of art. We do relish the hunt, and, to some degree, we enjoy accumulation for its own sake, but, more than that, we like to be able to find our stuff when we want to use it.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, Allan Bealy<\/a> brought an article about the library of Vito Acconci<\/a> to my attention. Like many artists, I devised a method of classification early in life and refined it over the years, and I found benefits in developing a \u201cmorgue\u201d according to my own \u201ccreative code\u201d rather than adopting a predetermined system. In whatever way we catalog it, we must be able to access the ingredients we need without impeding a flow of intuitive spontaneity. My studio repository began as a few \u201cyouthful\u201d files of tear sheets that simply caught my eye as catalytic images. With the demands of professionalism, it grew into an illustrator\u2019s resource that spared me many a trip to the public library. It mushroomed over time and finally evolved into a collage artist\u2019s stash, with many subdivisions (such as antiquity, language, creatures, environments, attire, icons, themes, botanicals, patterns, vintage, surreal, and cosmic). <\/p>\n

Individualized categories also help me to organize self-perceptions of what I make, even if these \u201csets\u201d or \u201cseries\u201d make limited sense to others. Although crafting personal greeting cards continues at a significantly reduced rate<\/a>, I can now look back on the life-long activity as a key practice in my transition from applied to fine arts. It has had a strong influence on how I codify work that typically begins with intuition and ultimately ends with inclusion within some sort of idiosyncratic classification. <\/p>\n

Please examine seven images recently created for my outgoing cards (with their designated categories). Some are considered hybrids (for lack of a better term). Those with an interest can find more at The Collage Miniaturist<\/em> with this link<\/a> and its associated archive<\/a>.
\n
\nLong live John\u2019s Haus of Cards!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

BodoMason<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Omega\/Pi hybrid, collection of W Bates<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

Eagle Nest Goddess<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Pi, collection of J Hellyer<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

Existunt<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Omega, collection of R W Breidenbach<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

G is for Gray<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Omega\/Pi hybrid, collection of G Zeitz<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

Nurse Saw It<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Pi, collection of R K Hower<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

IcogNeato<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Omega, collection of J M Hoover<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a><\/p>\n

O Lovely Perch<\/em><\/strong>
\ncollage greeting card by J A Dixon
\nseries Omega, collection of W W Barefoot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs an art of its time, collage art \u2014 its imagery, its techniques, its attitude \u2014 speaks to our confrontation with a fractured multifarious image of the world in an age of information overload. The activities of sifting, sorting, organizing and prioritizing has become the basis and the goal of artistic activity in this hummingbird […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,119,23,22,18,35,39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10208"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10371,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10208\/revisions\/10371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xorph.com\/jadixon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}