"King of Swords" Found Object Assemblage 9" x 29" x 6"

Back at it with another Tarot Card interpretation.  This one being the King of Swords.  He is found in an old Library card filing drawer. He is made from a toy called a Visible Man ( a science educational toy), that I cut apart to place in a seated position on his throne -- a rusted gardening tool. I fashioned the wardrobe myself out of scraps of material I had lying around. The "clouds" are made of Great Stuff ( an insulating foam ) and the angel is taken from the top of a trophy.

"Virgin of Jalapeno" 9" x 13" Found Object Assemblage

This is a little piece I did while waiting for glues to set on a larger piece.  It will be hanging at the new Mexican restaurant in Manchester named Pochito's.  It's next door to the East Colony Fine Art Gallery and well worth a trip.  Anyway, the Virgin will be there along with "Frida" ( see her below).

"The Hanged Man" 19" x 32" Found Object Assemblage

Here is the second of my Tarot's Major Arcana cards interpretation.  The Hanged Man is my personal Tarot Card, #12. Far form a "negative" symbol, the Hanged Man sees the world from an upside down view point. He does not follow the  status quo as the be all and end all. He travels through the world formulating his own rules. He hangs on the tree of his own will. The tree is rooted in the world but supports the heavens as well. His legs are bent to form a cross or the #4 and his arms are folded into an inverted triangle , an alchemical symbol for transmuting the lower passions into pure spiritual gold. The red pants represent human passion and  the physical body. Blue coat for knowledge. The halo representing spiritual attainment while the grey background suggests invisibility. A reminder not to flaunt spirituality. Generally speaking the Hanged Man is a symbol for breaking old habits and taking a fresh look at the world.
In this work, a Ken doll I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago was heated and bent into the appropriate shape. Hope Barbie doesn't object!  Another catalytic converter cover was used to encase Hanged Man and the whole piece was built onto a curved door from an old cabinet.

"Frida" 11" x 14" Found Object Assemblage

Here is a tribute to one of my all time favorite artists, Frida Kahlo from Mexico.  Frida was born in 1907  on July 6th.  She is well known as a very early feminist, defying her rough life to keep her from producing exquisite paintings, depicting her trials and tribulations. She married famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and endured a very rough relationship with him.  I just LOVE her work!  Hope you like my homage to her:)

Dragon Lady 8" x 14"

The "Dragon Lady"  is not a member of the Tarot series, but a type of Queen anyway!  She was started as I was waiting for adhesives to dry on the High Priestess. I often do this - work on a couple of pieces at once, 'cause I can't stand the waiting !!!
At a yard sale I found a very old ornate tissue box cover, which forms the foundation of this piece. A pressure gauge,a cast iron trivet (sans center portion), an oval frame and a "pearl" necklace were used to complete the piece along with the dark head on the bottom.  Why is he there?  I have no clue, he just fit!

"The High Priestess" 18" x 21" Found Object Assemblage

I finished the 4 Tarot Queens last week and decided to open the next series with one of the Major Arcana Cards-- the High Priestess.    She is also known as Persephone, Isis and Artemis. She sits at the portal before the Great Mystery.   I placed her on a chair  seat ( that's what forms the background to this piece), to represent her throne.  The High Priestess sits between the Darkness and the Light, the Pillars of Solomon's Temple and is the mediator of the passage into the depth of reality-- note the "ENTER"  key from an old keyboard just under her face.
The two pillars she's sitting between are Boaz and Joachim, the pillars of Mercy and Severity.  I used the "B" and "J" keys from the keyboard to represent this. They are at the very bottom on each side. The Blue color represents royalty. The Solar Cross is a symbol of the balance between male and female.

"Queen of Wands" 14 x 28 Found Object Assemblage

This is the last of the Tarot "Queens" series !!  Took a little longer than the others, don't exactly know why--- she was a bit stubborn at first. This lady is "fiery, emotional, loving, intellectual and is symbolized by a Sun, but has a distinct "dark side" as exemplified by the dark, sinister head at the bottom. 
The main component of this one is a rusted out catalytic converter from an automobile. I have a large collection of these, as they are found on almost every road around here. Thank you Winter salt trucks!  The rest is fairly obvious stuff, metal cabinet pull, angle iron, metal packaging tape. Oh, and the wings at the top were cut from a bowling trophy I picked up at a yard sale.
I realized something while I was working on this one.  For a few years now, I've been trying to find a way to incorporate found objects into my collage/paintings. Had limited success with this marriage of two distinct media. I liked some of the attempts but produced many more that I didn't like at all.  I would begin by making a collage/painting (as you can see examples of to the left), and try to fix found objects onto the panel or canvas.  It suddenly occurred to me that I was now incorporating painting onto my Found Object assemblages instead of the other way around.  I never painted the objects before, only painted the backgrounds.  This Tarot series found me painting almost all of the objects after they were affixed to the background!  The color helps to hold all of the disparate objects together in a cohesive composition. Problem solved! The subconscious is an amazing thing!!!

"Queen of Cups" 12 x 19 Found Object Assemblage ---- SOLD

Here is the 4th Queen-- 3rd of the Tarot series. She is 12 x 19. The whole thing is contained in  the upper drawer of a mechanic's tool chest. I cut off the handle and one of the short sides  to form a shrine setting. The Queen herself is mounted on an ironing stand, that shape further emphasizing the shrine motif. A pair of old chair back rails flanks her sides and another ancient garden cart wheel is mounthed on the back of the bottom half. The "cups" were actually found at the DollarTree as party favors and cost me a whole dollar!!!  The little heart at the very bottom signifies all the love this Queen has to give and the word "Sacrifice" is mounted on the heart to further carry that symbolism.
This one was finished on Sunday evening and sold Monday night :)
These have been SO much fun to assemble and I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am.

"Queen of Pentacles" 14x14 Found Object Assemblage SOLD 8/05/2011

The 2nd in the "Queens" series.  This one fell together rather rapidly for me. The background is an old rusted cake pan glued to a very old cart wheel. A "pearl" necklace forms the beading around the little box and the wings were amputated from a 50's style wooden carving of a flying goose. God, I love junk!!!!

"Queen of Swords" 18 x 27 Found Object Assemblage

This is # 3 from my Tarot Queens series. I do plan on doing all of them then moving on to other cards. This one gave me such a hard time last night. Felt very frustrated and almostr started to disassemble it. A good night's sleep made all the difference this morning.
The backing was once one end of an old trestle type coffee table. The little "cave" that contains the Queen held the crossbar that held the two ends together- which means I have one more of these to use !!!! Yaaaah! I guess it will have to be used for the "King of Swords"? There is a glass beaded globe on top fron an ancient chandelier along with glass prisms from another chandelier. The gold crown itself came from another old light fixture. The downward pointing sharp things on each side are from a farm plow rig and the triangle rusty thing at the very top is actually a piece of plastic from the end cap of a roll of vinyl sheeting, painted to look like rusted iron. The "roof" of the Queen's" cave is a framing sample. I bought a huge box full opf these things for $10 at a yard sale. You WILL be seeing more of these in my work, guaranteed. LOL!
The word "Nobility" is written on the little scrap of paper below the Queen and various other rusted, old metal doo-dads are attached to help with the texture ofthe piece. If you notice there are 2 beer bottle caps attached to each side on to pieces of a leather belt at the bottom. I learned how to artificially "rust" brand new beer bottle caps for this project. A true Alchemist's trick !!! :)

True North Arts Interview

Please click on this link and listen to an interview that I was so kindly granted with Kathryn Antyr-- The Collage Diva.  It will take about 20 minutes of your time. Thank you all so much .  Namaste,   Don    http://www.truenortharts.com/