According to Matthew
collage miniature on Bristol by J A Dixon
homage to Matthew Rose
collection of The Ontological Museum
Archive for the ‘Influences’ Category
According to Matthew
Saturday, January 31st, 2015A universal antidote . . .
Saturday, January 17th, 2015“Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it
acting, writing, painting, or living itself, which is
the greatest art of all.”
— Ray Bradbury
I was honored, but also thrilled, to accept my third invitation for the “New Year New Art” exhibition at our local Community Arts Center, one of the outstanding cultural institutions in Central Kentucky. The extraordinary thing about this annual show is a freedom to display, 
without juried appraisal, one or two pieces for which one has passion. The only restriction is that the work not be over four months old. I decided to create something around the holidays specifically for the opportunity, and, because I had just completed a difficult portrait commission in watercolor and pencil, a more personal form of expression was a welcome idea. I had used an illustrative, “news-magazine-cover” style that always has had great appeal to me, but that over the years has challenged my self confidence and repeatedly has put my perfectionist tendencies to a stress test. Fortunately, I have discovered a universal antidote for all that — collage.
For the January exhibition I wanted to do something fresh, to surprise myself, but also, as most artists prefer, to create something that would please others, that would excite an individual’s subjective response. Mixed-media collage is a medium that people find both provocative and delightful, and to which I am strongly committed, but that should be no surprise to anyone who follows this site. As a working designer and graphic artist, I return to collage on a nearly daily basis as fuel for my creative life and a potent solvent for that side of myself which continually flirts with self doubt if something might not turn out exactly as I imagine it should. All that nonsense fades away when I incite the spontaneity of this magnificent medium.
Of course, I remain captivated by the ability to make something of value from material that otherwise would be thrown away or recycled. I enjoy creating artwork that has bold visual appeal from across a room, but that also provides a depth of interest at close observation, with many stimulating details within an intimate viewing distance. “Matthew’s Touchonic Lodge” is primarily an abstract composition, and I salute two collage artists whose work I admire with my title and embedded allusions. “Apparition Rising” uses ingredients that are more whimsical, but perhaps slightly “spooky” at the same time. A phrase from a song that I like sparked the genesis of its assembly. Both are significantly larger than my typical miniature, more dimensional than a standard flat surface, and, as with all my designs, I worked intuitively with color, contrast, and the activation of space. In addition, I continue to push the effect of collage as a stand-alone treatment that does not demand the protective glass barrier. Please let me know what you think of these new works.
Matthew’s Touchonic Lodge
mixed-media collage by J A Dixon
22.5 x 20 inches, December 2014
title source: homage to artists M Rose and C Touchon
Purchase this artwork!
Apparition Rising
mixed-media collage by J A Dixon
19.5 x 27.5 inches, December 2014
title source: from the song “Ghost Town” by J Brasfield
also available for purchase
On Nostalgia in Collage
Thursday, December 11th, 2014“ . . . what I am hoping to do is discover if it is possible to separate nostalgia and collage art, or determine whether the two are inextricably entwined.”
— Joel Lambeth
In a blog entry last month, collage artist Joel Lambeth asked the challenging question, “Is collage inherently nostalgic?” It is one of the more provocative pieces about our medium that I have read this year, although a bit wordy in places. Admittedly, most working collage artists like us who maintain blogs that purport to be more than an online portfolio are not the finest writers alive, and I salute him for not choosing to approach the topic in a superficial way. Nevertheless, it is always risky to generalize about anything, but Lambeth cuts deeply into the subject to probe the history and heart of collage as an art form, and he manages to avoid a semantic discourse on the definition of the word “nostalgia.” His thoughtful viewpoints have sparked a desire on my part to weigh in (with what also may prove to be an entry more verbose than usual).
The groundbreaker Max Ernst worked with vintage engravings, perhaps to emphasize his anti-traditionalist intentions.
He influenced Joseph Cornell, who captured feelings of personal nostalgia with innovative effects that were as cutting-edge as they were fixated on musings about the past. When analyzing collage artwork with respect to the idea of nostalgia, we must take into consideration the artist’s motivation in addition to the overall character of the medium. When I look at current examples from the daily waves of creative output, it is clear that nostalgia in collage plays out along a spectrum or continuum like nearly every other feature of the process, whether it be minimalism/maximalism, realism/surrealism, or representation/abstraction.
It is surprising to me how many contemporary collage artists work exclusively with old ingredients, but that does not mean necessarily that their agenda is merely to traffic in sentimentality. Sara Caswell-Pearce and Nancy Gene Armstrong are among those who appear to harness nostalgia as a conscious objective in their work while achieving a broad balance of artistic creativity. Many collage artists, such as Carolina Chocron, Nikki Soppelsa, Ross Carron, Fred Litch, Laura Collins, and Frank Voigt are more apt to generate nostalgic tones as a byproduct of incorporating vintage ingredients into strong compositions. Only these individuals could clarify to what degree they actively try to convey impressions of an era gone by. The versatile Zach Collins and Randel Plowman, although they frequently work with obviously old paper, both seem to be engaged in ongoing visual investigations more primary than any sense of nostalgia embedded in their finished works.
Lambeth compares the nostalgic impulse to the process of collage itself and concludes by suggesting “that at a very base level collage and nostalgia have more in common than they do separating them.” He acknowledges the contemporary effort to transcend the inherent bias that the medium may have toward nostalgia. Perhaps he, Marc Deb, Launa Romoff, Andrew Lundwall, Teri Dryden, and numerous other artists are making the push beyond any fundamental nostalgic essence. If so, collage, after more than a hundred years, is cycling back to its roots, when Kurt Schwitters, who always considered himself a painter, became convinced that the pasted detritus of his environment was equally as legitimate as a brushstroke of oily pigment.
Midnight Gambol: Or Why The Bees Slept In Every Morning
mixed-media collage by Sara Caswell-Pearce
A Boy and a Swan
collage by Nancy Gene Armstrong
descosiendo el cuadrilátero
collage by Carolina Chocron
Napoleon shows his hand
collage by Nikki Soppelsa
untitled
collage by Fred Litch
Nubecula Cum Ovi
collage by Ross Carron
Jump
collage by Laura Collins
untitled
collage by Frank Voigt
141zc14
collage on wood panel by Zach Collins
August Night
collage by Randel Plowman
Ripping It Up
collage by Joel Lambeth
Imperfect Parallels
collage by Marc Deb
the parrot (detail)
mixed-media collage by Launa D Romoff
Substance
mixed-media collage by Andrew Lundwall
9 Lives
mixed-media collage by Teri Dryden
The Other Doorway
Tuesday, November 25th, 2014“Art comes out of art, and you are just another stone in the wall.”
— Richard Serra
My “Partner In All Things” has outdone herself again. She prepared an outstanding dinner last night in celebration of our grandson’s 23rd birthday, including “game stew” with rabbit and venison, plus the tastiest cherry-raspberry pie ever.
As for my part, I completed a collage miniature for him that took off on a phrase he said to me over a year ago while unraveling some difficult life choices. I am very proud of the young man, for many reasons having nothing to do with his being a great source of encouragement as I continue to create work that puzzles a majority of art buyers. Some time ago, L T Holmes introduced her online followers to the idea of producing a collage “under the influence” of a fellow artist. I admire her for elevating it to an exercise in perceptual focus. It is good to be mindful of influences, because they are not necessarily at a level of awareness. Today’s featured image is an example of how I have come to recognize the unconscious influence of peers after a work is finished. I am not sheepish about admitting it. Inviting the artistic strengths of others to rub off a bit is why we regularly partake of the excellence in our medium. The collage artworks of my friend Connie Beale, a retailer and accomplished interior designer, touch on the irrational aspects of environments and room-like enclosures with effects that are unsettling yet also whimsical. The prolific Eugenia Loli consistently captures the surreal potential of spatial contrasts and arresting juxtapositions. Perhaps a shade of both can be found in my grandson’s gift.
The Other Doorway
collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.25 x 7.75 inches
collection of J M Strock, Jr
Arbitrary Mischief
Sunday, October 5th, 2014“As we mature, all of us learn to ‘put away childish things.’ Often, though, we do such a good job of growing up that we lose contact with our spontaneity, teaching ourselves to follow rules and habits that inhibit us from acting on our hunches and intuition.”
— W. Clement Stone
One of my earliest entries at this site made mention of the intuitive response in our process of collage creation. I have continued to ponder this idea of making visual decisions without conscious thought, especially after a lengthy discussion at the Collage Critique group in the facebook realm. There is something to be said for intuitive spontaneity with no preconceived notions, in contrast to the methodical execution of a concept. Collage as a medium is diverse enough to embody both approaches and everything in between. In my opinion, there is ample “non-thought thinking” taking place, even when no “idea” is driving the process. On the other hand, most of us can tell when a piece is struggling to be more than a mere stew of ingredients and the temptation to declare it “finished” should be resisted.
Personally, it is no longer possible for me to imagine coming to this activity without the foundation of art education, a rigorous training in graphic design, and 40 years of practice as a creative professional. I suspect that I have internalized all this to become part of an inner resource, so that when, at the conscious level, I put all of it out of mind, it still informs each spontaneous visual choice and the sense of something appearing “right” to the eye. Deciding that “an ingredient in play” has the right color, the right value, the right shape, the right texture, or the right spatial role often happens without rational awareness. That is my goal, at any rate, to keep such “non-thinking thought” in motion for as long as possible before I find myself falling back into outer rumination. It is not only a matter of aesthetics. The same phenomenon applies to thematic or symbolic associations, and the overall process of ingredient acquisition and selection that initiates and sustains the whole affair. Not that there is anything undesirable or distasteful about planning, calculation, and a deliberate methodology. Far from it. Nearly every work of art will involve some of that. It just happens to be that what I am most hoping to take place is something else — that the flow of assembly leading to a stimulating but balanced effect is the result of an artistic intention deeper than conscious decision making.
Arbitrary Mischief
collage on panel by J A Dixon
8 x 10 inches
Purchase this artwork!
Feminine Fusion
Friday, July 11th, 2014“Would you stay if she promised you heaven?”
— Stevie Nicks
One cannot have too many influences. I am like the musician who must hear many new notes each day. Hundreds of collage images pass before my eyeballs every week, but there are times when the best catalyst is a younger version of oneself. Much can be learned by reviewing former decisions or puzzling out past intuitions. Perhaps it is all a circular mystery. No doubt the Muse would not have it any other way.
Feminine Fusion
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of B Griffin
Toll Taker
Monday, July 7th, 2014With my birthday more than two months behind me, age 62 is now feeling old hat, but I have not forgotten about the gift from Ted Tollefson. His collage on beer coaster sparked a strong desire to reciprocate. Toll Taker is the result, and one could say I was “under the influence” of his cool style. It shall be sent it to him promptly with a couple more surprises.
Toll Taker
collage on Lore Brewing coaster
J A Dixon, 4 x 4 inches
collection of T Tollefson
A Book About Death ~ Wales
Thursday, July 3rd, 2014“The project has become The Book About Living.”
—Sonja Benskin Mesher
Ray Johnson, the original “most famous unknown artist in the world,” produced his A Book About Death during the years 1963 to 1965. The pages were randomly mailed and offered for sale. Complete copies were compiled by a rare few. Johnson was a significant bridge between the groundbreaking work of Schwitters, the sensibilities of Cornell, and the emergence of what would become the most widely recognizable features of Pop Art. He was highly influential in the Mail Art, Installation Art, and Performance Art movements, as well as late 20th-century neo-Dadaist trends.
Since 2008, Paris-based Matthew Rose has actively aroused a worldwide interest and vitality that perpetuates the legacy of A Book About Death. A new call to artists from the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales and the full history of ABAD can be studied at this site. An exhibition at MoMA Machynlleth planned for later this year will include a collage from me (featured below, produced on a 50-year-old postcard). An online archive will share details of the exhibition and record artworks as they come in. Participate! You have until September 30th to mail your contribution.
ABAD 2014
collage on 1964 postcard by J A Dixon
6 x 4 inches, not for sale
Brass 25
Monday, June 9th, 2014“We need a little confusion.”
— Neil Gaiman
The Great American Brass Band Festival’s milestone 25th event is now in the archives. The finale was one of the most satisfying concerts in the history of the Kentucky festival. My appreciation goes to those who made it all happen one more time! I am pleased to have played a small part.
When I was first approached about lending my creative experience to the effort, I pitched the idea of a traditional collage to mark the 25th, using scraps from memorabilia of the last quarter century. A decision was made to go a different direction, but I could not put the idea aside. The result is “Brass 25,” a tribute to my community’s exceptional contribution to the American musical and cultural scene.
Is “commemorative collage” art? Perhaps not. Some might make the case that no example of the medium has approached “high art.” In my opinion, such a viewpoint fails to consider the 100-year impact that the medium has had on our visual landscape and the evolution of our aesthetic perceptions. It neglects the seminal role of Schwitters, Höch, Cornell, Kolář, and others. For me, the core relationship between mundane material and the art of collage transmits a unifying principle. When the remnants of ordinary life are physically re-purposed to resolve a unique compositional harmony, the culminating artifact can achieve a transcendent tone and offer a shared experience with each participating observer. If that is not art, stripped of elitist notions, then what is?
Brass 25
commemorative collage by J A Dixon
17.5 x 23.5 inches
available for purchase
An end is perhaps the beginning
Saturday, May 10th, 2014“What the Color Field painters shared most importantly with the Abstract Expressionists was the conviction that the role of art was not to report on the visible, but to reveal the unknown. They shared too, the belief that paintings that resembled nothing preexisting could have the presence, authority and associative richness of other real things in the world.”
— Karen Wilkin
I began my Bibelot Series by recalling to mind the lost treasures of George Headley. With this 13th miniature, I am wondering if the meditation may have reached its culmination. The primary reason centers on the changes that occurred with my process while creating this most recent composition. Because I find myself thinking less about the precious fabrications that provided the initial inspiration and more about the aesthetic qualities of the artifact manifesting before me, the connection to the Headley works have diminished enough for me to consider whether or not the transition to a new investigation is taking place. The color and abstract relationships inherent in an evolving collage surface seem to exist for their own sake, rather than as an homage to other artistic ideas, and point to a deeper reality. What comes next? As a student of American History, the number 13 has never felt unlucky to me. We shall see what follows.
Spy (Bibelot 848)
collage miniature by J A Dixon
4 x 5.5 inches
Purchase this artwork!
Touchonic Rites
Monday, January 27th, 2014When I was invited by Danville’s Community Arts Center to submit a piece for their annual “New Year, New Art” exhibition, I picked an homage to Cecil Touchon that I finished in December. Any observant artist who introduces cropped typography into a collage cannot be unaware of his significant body of contemporary work.
Touchonic Rites
collage on canvas
by J A Dixon
20 x 16 inches
currently on consignment