Souvenir (1999) collage, oil encaustic on canvas 40.75" x 25"
notes

created for art 572, multi-level painting

I was really inspired by Jasper Johns at the time that I made this, collaging a surface together from found paper materials encrusted in a wax and oil paint medium.
Johns had always denied that his paintings had any kind of personal relationship to himself, however, and this, incorporating love letters from a now ended engagement, is obviously personal. I was reflecting on the waste that's left over, the relics, when a relationship is over--all the banal notes and sentiments. Themes emerge, such as praise, promises, or apologies, and the passage of time is noted in postmarks and dated letters.

It felt really good to do this; it was fitting closure in some sense.
So was writing Souvenirs.

This work was shown at:

"More of the Same," OSU BFA senior exhibition
The gallery formerly known as the Silver Image Gallery, Haskett Hall, Columbus, OH
Feb 21-23