"Tired of Winning"
Collaged Intaglio
2020
"Tired of Winning" is one of the first pieces I finished when we were in "stay at home" mode. I had been taking old intaglio prints, cutting them apart and reassembling them in collages. They were taking on the feel of abstracted landscapes. This one had a darkness that for me, reflected how I felt about current events at the time.
"Landscape in the Time of COVID-19: No. 7"
Collaged Intaglio
2020
This piece was the last in a series that I did during the "stay at home" order and while we were starting to open back up. Just prior to the lock-down, I had started cutting up old intaglio prints of mine and reassembling them via collage into abstracted landscapes. Throughout the time at home, I continued this body of work and titled the series "Landscape in the Time of COVID-19." As I reached the end of the series, the images became much more abstracted.
I had a show scheduled to open on March 27, 2020, as part of Month of Printmaking and had planned on it being a show of older work along with a few new collaged-print pieces. Two weeks before the opening my show was postponed and we were soon in a stay-at-home order. Not knowing how long the show would be postponed, I just continued to cut up old prints and make new pieces from them. It probably kept me sane. I had so much time alone and the mental space to work so I totally took advantage of it. I turned my living room into a 2-d work studio. The pieces I was making are somewhat dark, but very layered and textured. I also started taking older work out of frames and making the new work sized to fit in the mats and frames that I had. This way I could avoid going to a frame shop so often and also avoid the cost of more framing. Eventually I had my show in July, not during the Month of Printmaking, and not with an opening reception or a lot of attendance. COVID has really changed the social aspect of art that is often the finale of the art-making cycle. The party and celebration of sharing work with others has been changed dramatically.
