It is only a doodle. A quick sketch that started out as a space ship but somehow ended up looking like a badminton birdie. Still, I like it, so here it is.
Falling Piano
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 -
The Deal
The Deal - collage by douglas brent smith, 21 November 1988.
"What's the deal?"
"You tell me."
"Is he selling that giant bowl?
"What if it's not a bowl?"
"I think that it's a bowl."
"Why would he be selling it? Unless it's more than a bowl."
"Do we know for sure that he's selling it?"
"No."
"Then what's the deal?"
Sometimes I strain to understand something and fail. It doesn't make me strop trying to understand it, I just don't get anywhere. What's the deal with that?
Other times, things are so elegantly simple that I understand them right away. Or, at least think that I do.
How do we know for sure?
-- dbS -
Not Much Room For Guests
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 did -- but mostly painted. Dreck."
"So no really big collages?"
"Unless you count some room-sized installation type movies that I made in the early 1970's. Recorded for posterity on 8mm movie reels -- also probably all gone."
"Like a legend."
"Or more like drafts not worth saving."
- dbS -
It lights up in the dark
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
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
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.
Dreaming of Mineral Wealth
Dreaming of Mineral Wealth - collage by douglas brent smith, 21 November 1988.
Mineral Wealth
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 -
A Little Cottage By The Lake
A Little Cottage By The Lake - collage by douglas brent smith, 21 November 1988.
How do you like to spend your birthday? Apparently, I like to spend some of my birthday making collages! I've done several collages on my birthdays and this is one of my favorite. Dancers are wonderful additions to any visual composition. The balance, the focus, the motion all add a dynamic that is distinctive and pure. I'm not a great dancer (although I used to think I was, I later discovered that it was my partner who was making me feel like a great dancer. When my partner moved on my dancing confidence dropped. Fortunately, I held onto my collage steps...)
- dbS -
Make Waves
Make Waves - collage by douglas brent smith, 19890601
Oddities Unexplained:
This collage, created June 1, 1989, appears on page 249 (with the back-side of the page simply the title) of journal #25. Communication, and the following poem, "Waves" was written on June 30, 1990 (more than a year later) and appears on page 251 of the same journal.
I think how something like that happens is that there was a time when I created collages in my journals deep within the pages, long before the journal writing caught up. Plus, this particular journal took longer than usual to write.
Does it matter? Not much. But, there you have it. Here's the poem:
Waves
everything on the surface
develops
a skin of its own
unexamined,
unrevealed,
unkissed by the sun
and then
something falls with the
unrelenting
force of gravity
and breaks that surface
bearing a new moment
which
makes waves
ohmyohmyohmyohmyohmy
holycowholycowholycowholycow...
but then
the waves dissipate
and the skin
of the surface
relents as
peace returns.
- dbS -
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