New Collages

The Shape Of Things Paints The Way 11"x14" Acrylic and Collage on Canvas Board

Oh My Chanel 11"x14" Acrylic and Collage on Canvas Board



New Collage

Comic Abstraction 9"x11" Acrylic and Collage on Panel



Collage Direction

Regarding my recent collages and the direction I've decided to start taking them in:

Working with the medium of collage is new to me.  I’m sure I’ve done something here or there that could be considered collage before but never have I given it so much attention or really made it the focal point of my work.  While the techniques I’m exploring are new to me the works I’m producing hearken to concepts that I’ve been dealing with for some time now.  An example is the complex idea of fractals and microcosms.  Within each collage are smaller sections that could be considered collages on their own and within them, again, even smaller sections.  These fractals are portions of the image that follow suit to the structure of the whole, so much so that a tiny section could be given as a representation of not only the entire piece from which its taken but the entire body of work in general.  In this way the works that I’m creating, these collages, can be considered smaller parts of a larger “whole” they symbolically represent the body of our cultural existence.  In a way a newspaper stand is just a large collage that shares many elements with the works I’m making.  The images I use are stripped from magazines that are on their way to the trash, all the articles and images I wish to save have been removed and what is left is the rest of the magazine which over the past year or so I would typically throw straight into the trash.  Now I’m taking those remaining pieces and recycling them, remixing them, revitalizing them by breaking them up and piecing them back together in these collages where I can structure and highlight the images in new ways.  I’m an artist acting as an alchemist.  I’m taking these images which represent our social culture, a culture that lacks the luster of “real” yet shines with a polished vision of consumerism and well oiled advertising and PR.  By remixing the images and controlling them in a new, unexpected, unintended fashion and changing the intended viewer to the person viewing a work of art actively rather than passively viewing images in popular culture I am switching the “gaze” of the viewer in a way that free the images from their typical purpose.  They gain new value in their recombined manner and in this way tug the magnifying glass till it points in the direction of consumer culture and forces the viewer to examine the world from which the images come and how they reflect on themselves.  Hopefully the questions that can be raised thanks to this exploration will lead not only the viewer but myself to a deeper understanding of our situation within the greater scheme of things, the consumer machine, the social network, our global existence, or universal existence. 

New Collage

Number 5    11"x14" Acrylic and Collage on Canvas Board



Another New Collage

Steakum 8.5"x7" Wax, Acrylic and Collage on MDF Panel

Collage

Inspired by the gorgeous Sarah Dick, who's work puts me to shame in every way, I recently jumped into collage using several techniques I hadn't used before and I've really been enjoying myself.  I'm going to post images for all of the collages I've made so far although I think some are more successful than others.  I have to thank Sarah for lighting a creative fire under my ass.  I look forward to working on more of these collages.  Joe.

Blue Fern 7"x11" Acrylic and Collage on Pine

Blue Square 7"x11" Acrylic and Collage on Pine

E 5"x7" Collage on Panel

Prefer Gentlemen 7"x11" Acrylic and Collage on Pine

Rain On Me 11"x7" Acrylic and Collage on Pine

SEX 11"x7" Acrylic and Collage on Pine

Wheels 4.5"x3.25" Collage on Pine

Trepanation

According to wikipedia "Trepanning, is a medical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds. It is often used to relieve pressure beneath a surface."  In my assemblage sculpture "Trepanation" I used the concept, which is also known to be used as a sort of quick route to "enlightenment" by some more radical groups, as a metaphor for the act of creation.  As an artist creating a work often seems like pulling the art, bit by bit, from your mind and forming it into whatever media suits it best.  This piece represents that act, the act of removing the art from the artist by force.  It also has a hidden meaning but that meaning just takes all of what I've said a few more steps and it's only known by a handful of people one of which is Devin Marisa a wonderful model I've had the chance to photograph who also owns "Trepanation" now.  The piece reflects my baroque taste as well and my darker sensabilities, two things about me which are not always easy to recognize.  I'm also attaching a photo of Devin from our shoot together.  Hope you enjoy, Joe. 

Fort Fisher and the Bitter Cold

For the sake of getting something visually stimulating up on here to balance all this text I thought I would try posting up a picture from a recent shoot I did at Fort Fisher, the weather was extremely cold and windy which was great for the photos but difficult as the photographer and for the models, lucky for me I had two gorgeous models who were not only extremely beautiful but tough enough to handle the cold with no complaints.  The models are Erica Logan who can be seen here Erica Model Mayhem and Alexander Elliott an endlessly interesting actress who can be seen in the web series Leveled which will be filming season two this summer.  This is essentially a candid shot but I loved their expressions please visit my Deviant Art page in the "Related Sites" section to see the other photos from this shoot.  Hope you enjoy!  Joe. 

Poem

I've been writing pretty seriously for quite awhile now, I started during a workshop class when I was 18 (I'm 26 now) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte taught by Christopher Davis.  Davis is a brillant poet and ever since then I've found that writing poetry has really become an important part of my life.  With all the work I'm doing lately its hard to find time to write but last night I woke up from sleep and just had to write something about a dream I had.  Normally I don't like to put poems online because of the legal grey areas when it comes to publication and such but I feel like sharing this since the blog is new and since its a draft and hasn't been titled yet.  Hope you enjoy, Joe.

The patter of rain against concrete walls, scarred faces of cinder block like piano keys strewn about a bombed out opera house and undulating cheers of smoldering sex and violence raising up over the keystone horizons echoing between our leather jacketed bodies and the distant puffs of smoke penetrated by clusters of city spot lights our hands tightly grasping one another alive with a faint warmth and the buzzing hum of a deep, human vibration in tune with our lustful heart beats, timpani rolling thunder in the alley below and teeth gnashing from within my throbbing skull, bone on flesh, flesh of sugar white breast their bulging intensity punctuated by deep crimson areola and thick erect nipples and above the din the steady rise of your aching and the subtle sounds of rain against my scarred soul.

Project Proposal

I'm dividing my studio class up into three differen't projects.  Here is the proposal for the first portion of the class, I'll be working on this project for a month or so and will post up images as soon as I have some things to share.  Hopefully this proposal will explain my plan pretty well and help you understand where I'll be going with the work. 

Proposal

The human body contains a lattice of living fractals, a frame work structure of bones that support our flesh and muscle hung with tendons and webbed through with nerves and veins. When a person views a human skeleton they are never in doubt that what they see was once a living being. Without the tissue it supported it becomes more of a symbol than a structure, a symbol of what it means to be human, what it means to live and die and its image arouses a primitive energy inside us that lingers from the dawn of man. We recognize our physical anatomy and within us a microcosm. While exploring its beauty and its grace we’re given an opportunity to discover something new about ourselves and the world around us. Through its exploration we can uncover new truth, feel new spiritual movement and find an access point into our relationship to both ourselves and one another. My goal during the first portion of this studio class is to explore this microcosm and find within the fractals an honesty that’s fresh and bold and celebrates life, death and the human form. I intend to use a multitude of printing processes in the darkroom applied direct to silver gelatin, RC coated paper a minimum of 8”x10” via photogram. Some of the tools used will be x-rays negatives, ink, vellum and chemical applications. I’d like to have three peer and/or teacher based, in progress critiques during the process of creating this body of work however in the overall scheme of the class this body of work will consist of only the first third of the semester and the final critique for these pieces will be the classes first critique day where I will present a minimum of five images ready for (but not yet) mounting, framing and presentation.

Joseph Winstead