Obsessive Decorum
Found papers, ink, watercolor, vintage metallic thread, collage on verso
落ちる (Fall), fall 2013-15 38 x 25 in Found Japanese paper, ink, watercolor, vintage metalic thread from France, metallic thread from Mexico City, and collage on verso
風 (Wind), fall 2013 20 x 27.5 in Found Japanese paper, thread, watercolor and collage on verso
Locating instinct, 2014 30 x 22 in Found paper, vintage metallic thread from France, watercolor, pastel and collage on verso
Detail photo: Jenny E. Balisle
フライト (Flight), fall 2013 38.5 x 26.5 in Found Japanese paper, watercolor and collage on verso
Found sheets of decorative paper are laboriously excavated; details found in the overall print are cut out leaving behind very small points of contact. The printed features are gently raised up and a new paper is collaged on verso filling the negative space beneath each lifted shape.
Unsuspected combinations of color and texture emerge, neon orange unsettles. The integrity of the repeating pattern of the print is preserved; the papers collaged on verso maintain a highly ordered and repeating pattern as well.
This work is a performance of heightened focus and dedication; anonymously printed papers are transformed into loci of reverential concentration and intervention. The effort and care required to complete each painstaking cut is transmitted to the viewer who is daunted by the tedium of making and awed by the luxury of looking. The finished works read as sections of ornate tapestries stolen from grand residences of the imagination belonging to forgotten cultures with values unknown.