Hide and Seek

I waver between titling this piece "Far and Beyond" or "Hide and Seek." Even though it's the floating orange sphere that first catches your attention, the curves were my starting point for this collage. There were several undercurrents that had a subtle influence the way this piece turned out. I worked on this collage concurrently with the series of small works related to the movement of objects in our solar system, so objects in space were on my mind. It might not make any sense in terms of the green arches, but I think of the two orbs in this piece (one bright and one dull) as planets. I was also strongly motivated by a desire to make it comparable to Octopus's Garden, which is still one of my personal favorites. So if you see this piece as reflecting a scene either in outer space or under water, you could be right. You can see this a little bit in the choice of colors and the diffuseness of the lighting.

What makes this collage completely different from my previous work is that it's my first full-sized collage created on stretched canvas. I've previously used mat board, canvas board, cradled mat board, and cradled birch. I didn't really enjoy working on canvas because the surface was too yielding. That didn't interfere with the final outcome, only my enjoyment of the process. Still, now that it's finished I do enjoy the light weight of the canvas: it's 40% to 75% lighter than a panel.

Recycled magazine clippings (buffered and de-acidified) on canvas coated with a UVLS polymer varnish. Available unframed, 20" x 16".