I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, blogging here daily to track my progress. In Sunday Planning, I plan for the week ahead.
This week, I plan to enter one art show and work on a piece for a second. I have the paintings mostly done for the first show; just need to photograph them and then submit the application.
For the second, I am doing assemblage — creating a three-dimensional sculpture out of non-traditional, everyday items. I’m taking four old books and combining them with things I found at Goodwill for WCACO’s (Un)Altered Books: Unheard Voices show.
I didn’t realize until a couple of days ago that I was doing assemblage. It’s not something I’ve done before or considered doing, just what began to emerge as I thought about a submission for the book show.
The Tate’s article on assemblage shares some interesting historical details. Pablo Picasso made three-dimensional works starting in 1912. In 1918, dada artist Kurt Schwitters scavenged scrap materials to create such works, and called the technique merz. In the 1950s and 60s, assemblage gained popularity as an artform. In a sketchbook note from 1964, Jasper Johns wrote:
Take an object / Do something to it / Do something else to it. [Repeat.]
Johns, along with Robert Rauschenberg “adopted an apparently anti-aesthetic approach to making art,” using found items and scrap materials with messy paint to create expressionist reliefs and sculptures. This earned them the name neo-dada.
In the 1960s and 70s, a radical art movement emerged in Italy, and became known as arte povera, or “poor art.” These artists used throwaway materials such as soil, rags, and twigs. The idea wasn’t making art without using money but rather “without the restraints of traditional practices and materials.”
Modern assemblage artists include Sarah Lucas, Tomoko Takahashi, and Damien Hirst.
Experimenting with assemblage
Initially I thought I would lay out my old books on a wood panel, glue them on, and then add writing and painting over them. That was just taking my traditional 2D art approach and using books to do it.
Once I had the books from eBay, I started playing around with different configurations. Stacking them appealed to me more than laying them out in a two-dimensional configuration.
I went to Goodwill to look for objects to include in the composition. At first I found nothing. I was looking for objects that gave a sense of luxury and wealth, thinking of Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina (also Constance Chatterley), who were high society, affluent women. But I didn’t find much.
Instead, I found modern objects — home decor pieces with phrases written on them — that could make my sculpture cheeky and transgressive. I spent $20 for a selection of items that I think will make a stunning and thought-provoking piece.
It’s so far from what I was originally planning! That’s how artmaking is sometimes — it goes in unexpected directions.
Here’s one experiment with putting the books and objects together. I’m thinking I’ll change what the objects with writing on them say — e.g., crossing out “trusts, hopes, perseveres, love never” from the Love Always piece, so that it says “Love Always FAILS.” I’m thinking of crossing out the YOU in “I <heart> YOU” and painting on someone else. And so forth.
I’ve chatted extensively with various AIs about how to construct the piece. I’ll be using a combination of hardware (screws and corner brackets) and glue (two-part 30-minute epoxy, picking it up today).
It’s motivating and inspiring to be doing an entirely different kind of art.
And other activities
Today, I’m attending artist talks for WCACO’s No Rules member show.
The rest of the week’s schedule is largely clear, allowing me to spend most of my time on artmaking and photographing art, around my usual daily activities of dog walking, gardening, options trading, and maintaining the house in good shape.
My older daughter is arriving Saturday from Atlanta for a stay in Colorado. It’s her birthday this week, and she’s coming in town to celebrate it with family.
The heat wave will continue. It’s forecasted to reach 100°F today, and will be in the nineties all week, then back to the hundreds for the weekend. Wow I am so tired of this! And so are the dogs, as they don’t get afternoon / evening walks when it’s so hot outside.