douglas brent smith

  Truth and Bull - sketch by douglas brent smith, 1989. Have you ever felt completely upside-down?  "How do I know that you're telling the truth." "Because I always tell the truth." "Well, I know that's not true." "How do you know?" "Because it can't be true. How do I know that anything you say is true if I can't trust what you just said." "Because I am 100% truthful." "That's bull." "Or is it?" Feeling upside down, the conversation ended. Were they any closer to the truth? Likely, not. - dbS -  Here's another version of the image with more saturation, allowing you to see some of what is on the back of the page, and adding more color:

  Falling Piano - collage by douglas brent smith, 01 June 1989. Below is the same collage but with a slightly different color saturation. I don't know which one I prefer, so I saved both versions. What do you think -- A (the one above) or B (the one below)? When I was a kid there were several old comedy movies that featured a piano falling from the window. And, didn't John Cage compose a piece of music that involved a falling piano? It must make a large noise followed by a big pile of wood and strings. Fortunately, life is not as riddled with falling pianos as it once seemed.   -  dbS  - 

  Not Much Room For Guests - collage by douglas brent smith, 29 May 1989 "Why don't you make bigger works of art?" " Do mean, by size?" "Yes. Yours all seem to fit in a notebook." "That's the point. Large is hard to store, and I've moved around so much -- proof of the difficulty is that the larger works of art I did do have disappeared." "Gone?" "Yep. Some mysteriously, and some in a brutal purge after my last move." "After your move? So you paid to have them move and then got rid of them?" "Yes. I didn't even take pictures of them. They no longer pleased me. They no longer represented me. They were mostly paintings from my first stay in Chicago. They were fun to make. I remember episodes of The Match Game playing in the background and soap operas -- or listening to WXRT on my humble stereo. I really should have had a job, but instead, painted. I really should have made collages -- and sometimes

  It lights up in the dark - collage by douglas brent smith, 1 January 1989. This was a bit of a departure for me and got me going on tearing the paper. I enjoy the textured effect and the versatility it adds. I still mostly use scanners (sewing scissors are my favorite because they are sharp and articulate) and still tearing sometimes.  You may have noticed that this does not really light up in the dark.

  Mineral Wealth 2 - pen and marker sketch boy douglas brent smith, 1989. An album cover for an unrecorded, unreleased album.  Here is the full page in Journal #26, "Communication" where the concept of the album, song titles, and evidence of water damage all appear. Clearly, I was having both a) fun with markers, and b) delusions of grandeur.  Mineral Wealth 2 with song titles

  Face In The Crowd - pen and marker drawing by douglas brent smith, 1989 At the buttom of the drawing you can see the effect of water on the paper. I feel lucky that my journals weren't more severely damaged or even burned completely up in the fire at Elm Street. I spent hours afterwards drying them out in the sun on a trampoline, carefully turning page by page and giving each page some drying time. This is from journal #26. I was up to journal #41 at the time. Fortunately, not all of them were drenched.  

  Horizontal Hold - collage by douglas brent smith 29 May 1989

  Mineral Wealth - River Gold - drawing by douglas brent smith, 1989 This is an imaginary (so far) record album cover, drawn back when album covers still mattered, when they still helped to sell recordings, when they represented additional enjoyment for the music. I never had a band named Mineral Wealth, but I think it's a great name for a band and the name of the album, "River Gold" makes it seem like a greatest hits collection. Imagine that. Greatest Hits albums were far more important in 1989 than they are at the moment when streaming one song at a time is much more common. In a way, it's all one continuous "greatest hits" parade. The colors in this sketch were effected by water damage to the journal that occurred during the fire on Elm Street in 2008. A lot more than this whimsical picture was harmed in that fire. - dbS - 

  How Was Your Vacation? - collage by douglas brent smith, 29 May 1989.  Did you go to exotic locales? How was the weather? My dad went 19 years in a row (and maybe more) without ever taking a vacation. Instead, he used the money from continuing to work to support the family. You probably experienced some sacrifices in your family, too. Are you grateful for the things that those who came before you did for you and yours? It's so easy to forget big things we should be grateful for. Let's give thanks for them now. Oh, and would you like to go on vacation in the location of this collage? - dbS -