REAGANART: 1980-1988
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Reaganart I
1980 xerographic collage black/white copier prints and color copier prints mounted on masonite 30" x 30" Image from campaign poster "The Time Is Now" |
I began my political art career in the fall of 1980 when Ronald Reagan challenged Jimmy Carter for the presidency of the United States. Until then I had been experimenting with using a copier machine as a quick, cheap way to print multiple images. I learned that other artists were doing the same and that what I had "discovered" was already an art form called xerography or copier art or electrographic imaging. I became a member of the International Society of Copier Artists (ISCA) founded by Louise Neaderland in New York City, exhibited with the group and contributed for many years to The ISCA Quarterly. Initially I was interested in dividing a photo of any person's face into a square grid, cutting up xerox copies of the features and rearranging them to form new and funny combinations - but my inspiration to deal exclusively with political figures began when Reagan won the election. Xerography seems to be an ideal medium for this work. Like much of politics, it is a mechanical process, predictable and yet somehow capricious. The technology of these instantly-produced photocopies also reflected contemporary Media: The exposure and over-exposure, the fragmentation and the ultimate distortion of public images. | |
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Reaganart II
1981 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 30" x 30" |
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Reaganart Crazy Quilt
1981 xerographic collage color copier prints 30" x 30" |
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Reaganart III
1981 xerographic collage Newsweek Magazine cover photo and black/white copier prints 22" x 22" |
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Reaganart IV
1981 xerographic collage black/white copier prints 30" x 30" |
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Reaganart V
1981 xerographic collage black/white copier prints 22" x 22" |
| This collage was created using a variety of makes and models of plain paper copier machines. Each brand of copier at that time in the 80s, produced unique visual qualities from the same original. When I made a copy of a copy of a copy, each machine would distort or degrade the image in a different way. I was intrigued with the enormous variety of tones, textures and values the machines could provide and found xerography a very satisfying medium for my art. | |
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Reaganart V
1981 xerographic collage black/white copier prints 22" x 22" DETAIL |
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Reaganart VII
1981 xerographic collage black/white copier prints 10" x 10" |
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Reaganart VIII
1981 xerographic collage black/white copier prints 9" x 9" |
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Reaganart XII
1981 xerographic collage color copier prints 22" x 22" |
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Reaganart Totem #1
1986 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 40" x 20" |
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Reaganart Totem #2
1986 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 40" x 20" |
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Reaganart Totem #3
1986 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 40" x 20" |
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Reaganart Totem #4
1986 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 40" x 20" |
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Reaganart: The Book
1983 xerographic collage color and black/white copier prints 8.5" x 8.5" 12 pages on cardstock spiral binding - edition of 30 "collage kit" on back page |
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