Hwæt! We as a society are in a constant battle between machine and nature. From the grass suffocating on the dark and tumultuous concrete to the skies once an infantile shade of periwinkle, now a murky, discolored mass of chemicals bundled in clouds of smog and industrialism. That being said though, I honestly love the city life and would rather have the dank and smokey fog of commercialism swaddle me in warmth(and lung cancer) before ever stepping foot into a large forest type area or a boring park. With this in mind, choosing a city scape to create using the medium of collage was truly easy as I had just gotten back from Saint Norbert's and stopped at a home away from home, Ear Wax Records in Madison. While any record store is comfy to me, Ear Wax Records is something on a completely different level of appeal and overall soothingness for that the store chock full of Death Metal, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, Harsh Noise, and other merchandise that evokes the little rebellious twelve year old who wanted to learn how to skateboard but never did due to the fact that skateboards were too expensive and he was too fat and ill-coordinated to ever pick it up as a hobby. In order to pay tribute to this gem of a store, I began by sketching out the design on a plank of wood, then going on to finding the correct shades of paper, and then finally layering and modge-podging the whole thing together. The process was overall enjoyable yet tedious for that nothing was stagnant or pasted down till the very end for that layering needed to be free flowing until all the parts were established and cut out. The result of this process I would say is very flashy and portrays the record store in a good light for that the store itself is a mishmash of multiple counter-culture items and doohickeys.
As the subjectively easier project became finished, I began working on the ever-elusive naturescape. From the beginning I wanted to portray a supposedly calm scene, but when looked into a sense of taboo or stress was induced. With this in mind, I began searching through various wartime naturescapes including Dresden, Vietnam, Hiroshima, and finally Afghanistan. While researching Afghanistan, I came across numerous photos of poppy plants, reminding me of Vonnegut's’ Tralfamadorians seeing as they were stalky, bulbous, and an unearthly shade of green. Along with the taboo of the opiated nature of the plant, the Vonnegut connection made it clear what I wanted to create a piece about. Getting to work, I used oil paints on a wooden surface, seeing as I wanted to embrace nature I thought why not use a more rustic approach in terms of a canvas. During painting I found a major pickle had been formed through the process of working on wood for that with such a porous material the amount of paint required often needed to be doubled which invoked the ever tedious job of matching shades of nonexistent paints. With the piece now completed, I enjoy the piece for that it is much looser in stroke than my usual work which I hope to continue for that I feel that is something that brings the quality of my work down from time to time.
