Re: chapter 1: the beginning

this first series of 4 untitled paintings, created in the fall of 2012, shows how these assemblages begin.  for these pieces i stopped working on them right after i assembled them.  normally, i would then start adding layers of paint and imagery to complete the narrative.  these were created in succession and are all about the same size and roughly use elements from some of the same parts and pieces.  this is how most of my assemblages look before i add any paint.  once i start painting them, i'll focus more on their shapes, surfaces and textures than the actual item itself, but for this series, i was happy with how they looked when they were first constructed.  so i only painted a few places, mostly just to balance out the colors.  the bits of stenciled pattern that looks like wallpaper were pieces of panel that i had previously painted and used in some other work, but they seemed to match the bible boxes, pepsi boxes and cookie tins appropriately.  the vague narratives in these works come from the elements themselves, and can be interpreted in a lot of different ways, leaving that avenue open to the viewer to decide their meanings.  hence, all are untitled.

this is my favorite piece from this series.  it has a cookie tin that houses a mary icon, the cover of a bible box, a snow shovel handle, the lid off of a little box and a piece of corrugated fiberglass siding.  i love that the jesus picture from the box and the plastic mary icon are in the same pose.  i was a religion major as an undergrad, and i love religious iconography.  i don't use it that often, but it is a huge part of the culture of the midwest.

this piece has a gross old broiler pan from my grandmother's oven, an old pepsi box and another piece of the corrugated siding.  i just couldn't bring myself to paint over the grease and the ancient red pepsi.  look at where the 'registered trademark' is

the other part of the broiler pan, another bible box with cartoon jesus, a remote control in a velvet lined box, a cookie tin with an image of a golfer, and the big red panel was from a little cabinet.  jesus, golf, and tv.  that about sums it up.

more of the pepsi box, a panel from a cigar box, a serving tray, and the metal anchor from the snow shovel.  the old woods and the old patterns are fun to play off of and create such a midwesty aesthetic.