Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Permanent Wave

Here's my entry for this year's faculty exhibit at Moraine Valley Community College. Titled Permanent Wave, it's sixteen letter-sized VanDyke Brown prints pinned to the gallery wall.

I've had the idea for this piece in mind for several years. Inspired by a Laurie Anderson piece from her album United States Live, the writing of Carl Sagan, and by a general appreciation of humor in art (which is supposed to be oh so serious), I scanned several pages from a 1967 book on hairstyles and topped it with the Pioneer plaque (which was co-designed by Sagan).

This piece was completed pretty quickly. The faculty show came early this year, much to my dismay (the beginning of the school year is always very busy), and none of the other work I have in progress was ready for exhibition. So, I decided to try this idea. It was originally going to be done in cyanotype, but I changed my mind at the last minute to VanDyke brown. That process is a little more fussy than cyanotype, and my hurrying through the printing resulted in a few minor flaws in the piece. I was going to reprint, but decided to let them stay. I kind of like the visual noise they add to the piece. 

MVCC Faculty Present New Work
DeCaprio Gallery, Moraine Valley Community College
September 20-October 14, 2010

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