Chery Baird talks with Jay Zerbe about her 2 books (so far!) of collages made from leftover scraps from her other 3 collage series (see my prior blog for more info about those).
when the mother of my late partner, john reuter-pacyna, fled germany during WWII, she took only her most valuable belongings. they were limited to two suitcases. amazingly, one of the things she took was a 12-volume set of german encyclopedias attempting to show all the animals that lived on all continents, and in all of the oceans and seas.
i inherited that set of heavy tomes from john, and would sometimes leaf through them. the quality of the images was exceptional. all were original etchings and lithographs. with old-style german lettering that was nearly impossible to decipher. but i knew they couldn’t stay in my bookcase forever. something good had to come of them.
i ended up donating the complete set to my sister, chery baird. and she ended up producing 4 wonderful series of collages using their illustrations. she even deciphered the german enough to look up the animals in english, and added that information to the back of each collage!
the four series which resulted were: Zoo Zone, Menagerie, Wildlife Preserve, and Dictionary Of Marks.
the Zoo Zone series use only black and white etchings, combined with chery-made papers, and are very wide: 7 x 26″.
the Menagerie series use only the beautiful old colored lithographs, painstakingly created before the advent of color-separation technology. those are 8 x 12″, or 12 x 8″, depending on their orientation.
the Wildlife Preserve series use the large black and white etchings. those are also 8 x 12″, or 12 x 8″, depending on their orientation.
the Dictionary Of Marks series are collages made from the small cut leftovers, arranged abstractly.
i am incredibly pleased that this inheritance has been used in such a creative fashion, and will enrich the lives of the many people who will acquire these collages. a fitting tribute to john reuter-pacyna’s mother’s preservation of them – against all odds!
on my recent annual visit with my sister, Chery Baird, who lives in Atlanta, we spent a day visiting the High Museum, and several galleries.
although i saw a few interesting paintings, many of the galleries were showing rather tepid work. pale color, relaxing quiet abstractions… perhaps because it is summer.
the main draw of the day was an extensive show comparing works by two 20th century masters: Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso at the High Museum.
although the two artists only met in person a couple of times, their work influenced the other substantially. seeing the influences laid out in a beautifully presented, and well-documented exhibit was a thrill!
overall, i vastly preferred the Calder’s on view. the Picasso paintings kept disappointing me because he would add an iconized “smiley face” onto a beautifully composed abstract – ruining it for me.
below i show two examples of an excellent (without the smiley face) and so-so (with the smiley face) version of one of Picasso’s paintings in the exhibit. you may or may not agree with me.
another portrait – much more abstract, was more disturbing emotionally, but much more satisfying.
Calder by contract, i found consistently amusing, and transporting.
so if you are anywhere near Atlanta (the last day is september 19) be sure to stop by!
some artists are born within cultures that have specific visual art histories, based on traditions handed down over centuries.
asian and Arab artists are particularly notable, since both may employ calligraphy (an honored tradition in both cultures) in work that otherwise feels very abstract.
i think the path into abstraction for asian artists is a easier path, because Zen practices allow for loose control – such as the practice of ink flinging. which influenced both Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell – to name just two western artists. there have been many others.
in the Muslim Arab world, imagery, especially of humans, but not allowed. although many folk artists, as well as fine artists, ignored that dictum. but wildly rendered, almost illegible calligraphy, was allowed. in fact, it was venerated. as the viewer deciphered the text, somewhat like unraveling a drawer of loose string, the message became known. contemplation was rewarded with knowledge.
today i came across two good examples of the stretching of tradition, leading to beautiful abstractions.
the Arab artist is Helen Abbas, a contemporary Syrian artist. the Asian artist is Hong Zhu An, a contemporary Chinese artist.
i hope you enjoy their work. we discuss many artist’s work in our weekly Focus On Abstraction Zoom meeting on artistvenu. i look forward to seeing you there!
in our weekly online meeting of artists, this week we discussed two similar artists’ works. Richard Diebenkorn and Frank P Phillips, a contemporary artist. Diebenkorn died in 1993, after a very successful career of painting and teaching. Frank P Phillips was born in 1974. it is obvious that Phillips is aware of Diebenkorn’s work. the use of multiple framing devices, mostly on the left edge, and large open, slightly translucent space in the center of the canvases is a dead giveaway.
but where are the differences? as artists, we usually subscribe to the dictum that our work should be unique. a difficult task – if you know your art history, and are aware of what is currently being shown in galleries.
in our discussion, there was a lot of back and forth among us, and some very perceptive comments. it’s always great when artists can get together to discuss art!
please join us to discuss art every week! thursdays, at 11am CST. different kinds of topics are discussed, but lately, we have been discussing abstract artwork that i have come across, both current and “vintage”.
looking, learning, and sharing. artistvenu.studio
