damaged photos 9

Four more that disintegrated quite nicely. Click images for better details (these look pretty amazing and intricate up close.)

collages

Two more old collages from the late 90's.

Stencils vs shotguns pt. 2

Plywood, white primer, spray paint & stencil, balloons, acrylic house paint, shotgun shells. These measure about 24 inches square.

W. Burroughs stencil and shotgun blast

Plywood, white primer, black spray paint & stencil, acrylic house paint, balloons, Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun (thanks to P.S.N. for use of the gun.)

I am giving these the label "action painting" for lack of a better word to describe them ("shotgun art"? ehhh. . . ) I'm sure Pollock and de Kooning and art history professors would take issue with my use of that phrase, but screw them-- they can bring it up with my friend Mossberg Twelvegauge.


(Stencil based on a photo by W. Coupon)

found photo

(Click image for a larger view.)

Another one to file under "WTF?" THIS is the benefit of looking to see if that camera in the thrift store still has film inside-- you never know what you'll find (though it's usually not something as weird as this.)

Feel free to add your own caption.

damaged photos 8

I use the top pair as my desktop background.
(Click image for better details)

Collage

"The Texas Governor"

Dates from about 1996, title chosen later. This one was falling apart when I pulled it out. So it goes.

(Click image for better detail.)

Photo "scroll"

After my Bazooka camera died I tried switching to a cheap 35mm camera and used it to take multiple exposure pics. This was one attempt that ended up as a long scroll of overlapping exposures. (Click on the photo for a better detail.)

Abba Stencil

Spray stencil t-shirt for 70's Swedish heavy metal legends "Abba" (yeah, hilarious)-- to get the white spray paint to cover well on a black t-shirt you need to really put it on thick, which (if you do it too fast) makes it bleed through the fabric. I really should switch to fabric paint; old habits die hard. (Maybe try another font too-- this one maybe isn't evil/gothic enough.)

damaged photos 7

(To be fair, the top two were already kind of psychedelic before I treated them: double exposures using alternating red and blue filters.)

found

Can you tell which one is the "evil" clown?

On the left: found inside a thrift-store book, appears to be from the Sunday Boston Globe or similar paper. On the right: found on the street in Boston.

Large skull stencil

Spray paint on a recycled/reused canvas. Measures about 24 by 18 inches.

damaged photographs 6

Collage

Another purely abstract collage, made from leftover pieces from other collages, finished 3/11/99 according to my notes on the back. You can see how the paper is coming unglued. So it goes.

Stencil

Spray paint on canvas, measures about 11" square.

Stencils

Part one of my "Commies For Christ" series, on a crappy recycled canvas and a t-shirt (very difficult to get the red to cover well on the t-shirt).

(Sorry about the grainy, low-light photos.)

Damaged photographs 5

More soaked-and-scraped photos. I generally let them form on their own with little or no input from me-- click on the pic for the full effect. Roughly 1/2 of them come out interesting (to me anyway). I've been trying to pair up those with similar attributes.

Beautiful dissolution and decay.

Found art

Yeah, it's just a used painter's palett, but I like the way it looks, and so it's been hanging on my wall for a few years.

Collages

Scraping the bottom of the barrel for these now-- many of the ones I pulled out just don't hold up very well, but these four have their charms I suppose. I was recently inspired by Genesis P-Orridge's new exhibition and book, so I might start making these again if I have time (maybe just try and whip out a few in one delirious night, using sleep deprivation as a window into the subconscious.)

Stencil / "vandalized painting"

"Red Shift"

A work in progress, it maybe needs something else. Another "vandalized painting"-- the minimal red canvas I found at a thrift store, thought it was unfinished, and then noticed it was signed "John Park (?) 10/02" in pencil . . . so he considered it finished? I added the stencil. Measures about 24 x 30 inches.

Found photo (negative)

Perhaps more properly labeled under "WTF?!", an old roommate of mine found this pinned up in a dilapidated shack out in the woods (Chelmsford MA. maybe?), depicting a smiling double amputee. Copy and paste into whatever paint/photoshop program you have and reverse the colors if you really need to see what she looks like.

Damaged photographs 4

More deliberately damaged photos, treated by soaking and random abrasion, almost completely without thought. As with all these posts you can click the image for more detail, some files are pretty large, and close-ups provide interesting details (especially on the damaged photos, which don't look so interesting from a distance.).

Can you find the automobile in these pictures?

My old car, 1985 Toyota Tercel, it was white but one day in 1999 I decided it needed a new look. Unfortunately I only owned it for a year after I painted it. It was always in need of repair, and so I gave it to a friend who drove it for another year before realizing it would not pass inspection, and was not worth repairing, and it was junked. So it goes.

Collages

Late 90's, x-acto, glue stick, paper, cardboard. Close inspection reveals these are not aging well; the glue has dried and the paper has begun to bubble. But then ultimately everything is a type of ephemera. So it goes.

Circuit Board collage

Measures about 10 x 8 inches, discarded circuit boards and discarded frame. I made another much larger one but it did not survive my last move.

Damaged Photographs 3

My continuing project to emulate damaged mystery photographs you might find on the street. These were soaked, then rubbed/scraped against various objects.

Collages

Late 90's, x-acto, paper, glue stick, cardboard. I believe I pieced these together semi-randomly from leftover pieces with the specific intent to make something completely abstract. Note the "crease" from where I had to scan these in 2 parts and piece together using the pedestrian "paint" program that comes with Windows (never bothered to install or learn Photoshop on my Mac). Most of these collages are kind of fragile-- I didn't put much thought into their longevity when I was making them.

Damaged photographs 2

I used to love finding discarded photos on the street, especially if the weather/pedestrian feet had turned them into psychedelic abstractions. Digital photography means I don't find them anymore, so I make my own from thrift store photos. These were done by placing them under the rubber mat in my bath tub for a few days.

Collages

Again, late 90's, x-acto/glue/paper/cardboard. This is what I did instead of having any kind of social life.

Stencils

I did these stencils several years ago for a Lewis Recordings UK tour (clockwise from top left: Andrew Thompson, Edan, Mighty Casey, Dooley-O). These were reprinted on t-shirts, rather than tagged throughout London. (There are still some available at lewisrecordings.com/shop).

Damaged photographs 1

I used to love finding photographs on the street, especially if the elements had damaged the emulsion, causing it to disintegrate into abstract/psychedelic designs. Thanks to digital photography I don't find many photos on the street anymore, so I decided to create my own from thrift store photos. These were done by leaving them in the sink for a few days with the dirty dishes.

Collages

Late 90's, x-acto, glue paper, cardboard. These aren't being posted in any particular order.