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Archives for February, 2010

Rand and McNally Dreaming

The dreamings of the Australian aboriginines represent a kind of art that goes to the core of their identities. To the extent that that represents any kind of  an accurate description, allow me to state that these images are at something of an opposite extreme in that they play around loosely with important documents.

My initial impulse in doing maps was to effect some sort of transformation. A road map tells you what you, in your car, need to know about getting around. How about if the map were treated as a template through which other concerns were granted expression?  There’s a lot to think about and do in this department and I feel that I have gotten so far as to dip my little toe so far.

peninsula processwed and resized

This object is a straight-out gouge into a piece  of particle board.  It is derived from a map of Peninsula, Ohio, a picturesque village with bars, gift shops, but no place to buy a toothbrush. I was looking to produce the effect of a rather rusticated brass plaque.

more… »

Water Dreaming

Children Water Dreaming
Children’s Water Dreaming 1972, 62 x 44 cm, Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi

Aborigines used Australia’s wealth in ochre colors (iron oxides) to paint their mythologies on sand, cut bark of stringybark tree and their bodies. In 1972, acrylic paints and masonite boards were made available to a few Aboriginal men congregating in a ‘painting club’. While the usage of contemporary materials served to adulterate, it also helped to popularize Australian Aboriginal art. more… »

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