So, it looks as if I have at least a working title for this new piece in progress, “Food Processing.”
I like the title but am a little concerned it might lead people in the wrong direction. While it might help to motivate people to think about “food processing,” or “processed food,” as I work on it it is more on how we think about food— and, as with the other works, what our thought processes are surrounding it.
The collage components are some “Nutrition Facts” labels I have pulled and enlarged from various sources— sugar, frozen pizza, pasta. The elements for the figures are pulled from an old book I found in my grandparent’s basement (the Cole’s from which I inherited my middle name— being my mother’s maiden name) 5 or so years ago.
The book is the “Children’s Guide to Knowledge,” edited by Leonard Buchner and Steele Mabon Kennedy— published by Parent’s Magazine Press in 1963.
One of the figures (the foreground) uses images of shopping, food processing, and people’s relationships to animals.
The other is made of images of livestock and seafood.
I love this old book and have used it for collage-type pieces in the past (“Ketchum, Idaho,” and “100 airplane Rides”)— the images of the women decked-out in 50’s style garb and pushing a shopping cart next to a narrative of people making friends with animals is perfect for this work.
To bring up Sam walker again— I was always intrigued by his work in printmaking— he once crafted a wooden Japanese screen adorned with the found imagery of hands from the instructions of how to use chop sticks that come on the outside of the paper wrappers in some restaraunts. This enlarging and reconsidering of everyday objects inspired me and is certainly present in this work.
I can remember a talk with Sam on his losing his father, and me losing mine, and how we wondered what we would do with all this “stuff” we inherited but weren’t quite sure what to do with. I am not sure what Sam finally did with all of his, but I still have the repair manual from a 1989 Dodge Caravan that is begging to find its way into a collage.
And I can see my Father in this work as I cut these shapes. As someone who worked for the U.S.D.A. (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture) for over 30 years, and was the Officer in Charge of the Western Division of the United States, I know my father spent time early on in his career in slaughterhouses and meat packing plants inspecting for clean practices. While the women in the collage are rolling apples down a large conveyor— their attire of white hats and clothes and the idea of food processing have me thinking of my dad as I work.
And the apples? Will any artist ever get within 100 miles of apples and not think of Cezanne?
Further, Martin Cockroft’s poem, “With Apples,” which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize last year and deals with Cezanne in some respects is always there for me when I think of apples. He is an incredible poet.
I have also used Vellum press-on numbers that will reside in the background behind heavy black areas. I used this technique in “Sources,” and like the idea of additional layering— more information barely visible beneath the surface, but there upon further inspection.
Using letters, or in this case numbers, like this (which ties in nicely to our accounting for fat, calories, etc., etc., in a “food processing” has me thinking of Pollock’s painting “Male and Female” (here from webmuseum site: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/), and de Kooning’s, “Zot,” (from http://www.ba-ca-kunstforum.at/en/exhibitions/review/17) both of which use seemingly random figures/letters as part of the composition.
And, back to the nutritional content— I love these words… “fact,” and “value,” that we stare at absentmindedly as we shop.
So, “Food Processing,” is moving along with some further work today.
I like the title but am a little concerned it might lead people in the wrong direction. While it might help to motivate people to think about “food processing,” or “processed food,” as I work on it it is more on how we think about food— and, as with the other works, what our thought processes are surrounding it.
The collage components are some “Nutrition Facts” labels I have pulled and enlarged from various sources— sugar, frozen pizza, pasta. The elements for the figures are pulled from an old book I found in my grandparent’s basement (the Cole’s from which I inherited my middle name— being my mother’s maiden name) 5 or so years ago.
The book is the “Children’s Guide to Knowledge,” edited by Leonard Buchner and Steele Mabon Kennedy— published by Parent’s Magazine Press in 1963.
One of the figures (the foreground) uses images of shopping, food processing, and people’s relationships to animals.
The other is made of images of livestock and seafood.
I love this old book and have used it for collage-type pieces in the past (“Ketchum, Idaho,” and “100 airplane Rides”)— the images of the women decked-out in 50’s style garb and pushing a shopping cart next to a narrative of people making friends with animals is perfect for this work.
To bring up Sam walker again— I was always intrigued by his work in printmaking— he once crafted a wooden Japanese screen adorned with the found imagery of hands from the instructions of how to use chop sticks that come on the outside of the paper wrappers in some restaraunts. This enlarging and reconsidering of everyday objects inspired me and is certainly present in this work.
I can remember a talk with Sam on his losing his father, and me losing mine, and how we wondered what we would do with all this “stuff” we inherited but weren’t quite sure what to do with. I am not sure what Sam finally did with all of his, but I still have the repair manual from a 1989 Dodge Caravan that is begging to find its way into a collage.
And I can see my Father in this work as I cut these shapes. As someone who worked for the U.S.D.A. (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture) for over 30 years, and was the Officer in Charge of the Western Division of the United States, I know my father spent time early on in his career in slaughterhouses and meat packing plants inspecting for clean practices. While the women in the collage are rolling apples down a large conveyor— their attire of white hats and clothes and the idea of food processing have me thinking of my dad as I work.
And the apples? Will any artist ever get within 100 miles of apples and not think of Cezanne?
Further, Martin Cockroft’s poem, “With Apples,” which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize last year and deals with Cezanne in some respects is always there for me when I think of apples. He is an incredible poet.
I have also used Vellum press-on numbers that will reside in the background behind heavy black areas. I used this technique in “Sources,” and like the idea of additional layering— more information barely visible beneath the surface, but there upon further inspection.
Using letters, or in this case numbers, like this (which ties in nicely to our accounting for fat, calories, etc., etc., in a “food processing” has me thinking of Pollock’s painting “Male and Female” (here from webmuseum site: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/), and de Kooning’s, “Zot,” (from http://www.ba-ca-kunstforum.at/en/exhibitions/review/17) both of which use seemingly random figures/letters as part of the composition.
And, back to the nutritional content— I love these words… “fact,” and “value,” that we stare at absentmindedly as we shop.
So, “Food Processing,” is moving along with some further work today.
1 comment:
That's amazing. Some day you're going to be FA MOUS and we will say, oh, yes, we have three Eidsvig ORIGINALS. And we won't sell, either, no matter what the sum offered.
Post a Comment