juxtapose

Juxtapose (paper collage, 2002)

Every now and again I need to escape from the dour side of art so that I don’t wind up cutting off an ear. 

This is a collage which I  thought was comedy (dark or otherwise).  I scoured some 1970s-era cookbooks and lush-living magazines for the background images.  I have always been a real fan of the imagery from that time period, particularly the color schemes and soft-focus photography.  The immaculate table settings I decided to use here are accentuated by the red of the tablecloth. 

Then somewhere I came across an old medical guidebook, with illustrated how-to’s for performing abdominal thrusts to choking victims.  As helpful as these visual aids are in times of need, there is always something funny about the way they are drawn.

While one set of images shows a meal set to entice and impress a dinner guest, the other is a choking aid for use in life-and-death emergencies. Juxtaposing the two very different concepts into an unintended context exposes a newfound silliness that I really love.