In 1981 my art style moved towards photo-realistic drawings and paintings. As a result I started taking photos that I could use as reference for the drawings. After a while I realized I didn’t like the process of creating photo-realistic images – being in a dark studio with a slide projector wasn’t much fun – so I moved away from the use of photo references.
But in the meanwhile I had gotten hooked on photography and started seeing all the various bits and pieces of images I had been gathering as wonderful raw material for collage. I have been doing photo-collages as one of my main artistic avenues ever since.
The images today are from a number of series I did combining photo-collages into books, letters or over pre-existing images.
Rejection Suite
These two are from a series of rejection letters I received from colleges and universities to which I applied for teaching positions. I collaged rejected photographs on top of them. I left showing words and phrases I thought were particularly enlightening regarding the idea and reality of rejection.
The Body in Bondage
I took photos of parts of bodies that were ‘in bondage’ for one reason or another, then glued them into the book titled ‘Of Human Bondage’
Impressionist Compositions
I photographed the impressions left on the skin after things were taken off, such as bracelets, shoes, straps, etc. Then I collaged them on top of Impressionist paintings.
Claude Monet and Marty Coleman, 1891-1983
Vincent Van Gogh and Marty Coleman, 1890-1983
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