Sunday, January 30, 2011

Collectors Edition: Chapter 5


Welcome to the fourth edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. Nearly 150 artists have answered a list of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented as a series of online and print projects. Links to the first four projects (Secret Sunday, The Book Guild, StudioScapes, Viewer's Choice) can be found on the sidebar of my blog.


Collectors Edition is the fifth installment in which your favorite artists share their favorite collection or obsession.
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I collect unmounted stamps, postage stamps showing people´s heads for using them in my artwork, and vintage papers.
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I collect earrings. I have over 200 pairs from all over the world. Some women feel naked if they leave the house without make-up. I don't wear make-up, but I feel naked if I leave the house without earrings. I also collect tarot decks (I stopped counting at 400), Devil figurines and statues, skeleton figurines and Day of the Dead sculptures, and Betty Boop figurines, bobbles heads and snow globes.
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Golden's iridescent and interference acrylics
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You only have to look at my blog or etsy shop to see I am a bit Buddha obsessed. I am drawn to most things with an Asian flavour and style. Here's a painting of mine. The fun thing about it is, it was a palette and had so much wonderful colour and texture that I couldn't throw it away. I painted over it and then with an exacto knife I cut the little nubs of dried paint so that they emerged from the background. I stamped the words "form is emptiness, emptiness is form" which is from a Buddhist text called The Heart Sutra but it also speaks to art work. Then I put a little box frame around it made from some old pieces of trellis wood.
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My current obsession is gouache paints.
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Old books. Some I repurpose. Some I just keep to look at and smell.
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My current fascination has been using holiday windows as a kind of ready-made photo collage.
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I do think it is awfully enlightening to see what we unconsciously collect. The things we imagine we do not have enough of and keep gathering. In my last organizing purge of the studio I put together a pile of dice, a stack obsolete library index cards, and a mound of smashed souvenir pennies.

Consciously, though, I collect things that I can not make. the rusty bent nail, a flattened flour scooper, those old telephone connectors. Even when I cannot imagine (imagine that) not using these time-altered items, the history of the thing pulls me and muses me into the building in texture, words, and crossover from 2D into 3D book form.

As others may find also, the longer one works, obsessions seem to cycle and rebound. Moving from one burner to another. As working with one media gives energy and rise of another, more familiar channel. I do think it has something to do with wanting to exhaust all possibilities. An intuitive relationship with my own workings go from the visual vocabulary to the written word and altered planes. Looming big, for me, is the religion myths as a tool to understand and evaluate the human condition searching for the threads of resonance that connect us all.
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Art Journals 
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Including bits and pieces of everyday life into a journal made of leftovers!
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20 comments:

Leslie said...

As always, your post will keep me busy for hours!

Thanks for including me, Seth!

Kathryn Dyche said...

Stunning collections, they just keep getting better.

jill Zaheer said...

Love this collections post once again. I can't get over that through out this sensational series, there are still new and varied displays of items people collect. The pictures and corresponding thoughts are just great. Interesting use for the head stamps!

Commuter's Journal said...

A great collection of collections, Seth. I must confess that I didn't recognize my photo at first but thought -- how cool, someone takes the same photos that I do -- and then saw my name. Talk about a senior moment! I'm thrilled as always to be included and fascinated to see what others in the art community collect. Thanks!

Mostly Turquoise said...

Hi Seth,

Once again you just delivered a portion of Sunday fun, thank you so much!!!

Regina, SXM

Lisa said...

love the creativity displayed here.. you could publish volumes on this topic!

GalleryJuana said...

I enjoy looking into artist's collecting habits and reading about what spurred their creativity.

MrCachet said...

I too like leftovers - sometimes more than the orginals. Fascination everywhere today!

Debrina said...

Awesome!!!

Patti Edmon Artist said...

how cool - I love knowing I'm not the only one:)
these collections are fabulous - thanks so much!

Tumble Fish Studio said...

Fascinating! Just what I needed . . . ideas for more things to get obsessed with!

nancy neva gagliano said...

love seeing other's collections! and the last , paula's, reminds me of my SPARE SCRAPS sketchbook...we collectors of pieces looking for a whole

Liz Hampton-Derivan Studio said...

Great post. Found some new Blogs to follow. Thank you for your collections posts and opportunity to see more great art!

Dayna Collins said...

Ohhh how I look forward to your Monday morning post!

Lynn Cohen said...

interesting how our minds work and our hands gather.

Anonymous said...

Once again, great collections! I really like JeriAnn Geller's photo collages. What a wonderful idea!!

Harnett-Hargrove said...

What a great collection of collections!!!!
Wow, I reckon I can be verbose, can't I? -J

Patti Sandham said...

Thanks for showing my collection. It was a surprise to me to see what I sent in. LOL!

I always love to visit your site.

Cheers

"MOI" Freubel said...

However I only work digital, your inspirational links are true gift for any artist !!
Kind greetings from Holland.
Rian D.

Anonymous said...

these are great! i particularly love leslie's pile of books -- i have some around for looking at and sniffing too. ;)