During April 4-May 23, 2009 at California State University-Los Angeles, the Luckman Fine Arts Complex exhibited a collection of collage-based work by 15 Los Angeles artists, “Glue, Paper, Scissors”. The exhibition included artists Dan Bayles, Mark Bradford, Kent Familton, Joyce Lightbody, Candice Lin, Jason Meadows, Justin Michell, Aaron Morse, Eamon Ore-Giron, Meaghan Reid, Nils Schirrmacher, Alexis Smith, Frances Stark, Rosha Yaghmai, and Brenna Youngblood. “It draws attention to the many-sided ways in which contemporary artists continue to employ collage techniques, juxtaposing objects or images to create new meanings. The collages represented here include experiments in formal composition, the creation of personal narratives, a way of challenging or re-imagining political events. It included popular culture as a way of reflecting upon the juxtapositions present in the Los Angeles landscape.” (www.luckmanarts.org) It was such a great opportunity for me and other students to perceive collage-based works by these contemporary artists in the different techniques and different approaches. Moreover, the exhibition was presented at the Luckman Gallery on our campus and was FREE!In my opinion, this exhibition was marvelous and impressive. There were diverse styles and techniques used to produce the works of art. Each style represents personal experience and personal preference to communicate its meaning to the audiences. Dan Bayles explores the relationship between art and architecture by mixing photographs, tape, paper, and painting into semi-abstract works. “Eamon Ore-Giron’s engagement with music and sound is a central force in his visual work. By manipulating the graphics or record covers that accompany music, or by appropriating and manipulating lyrics, he draws attention to forms of cultural resistance and improvisation in both music and visual art.” (www.luckmanarts.org) Above all, the art collection from Joyce Lightbody completely grabbed my attention and dragged me into her collage world. “Her collages reveal her long-standing interest in world travel, map-making, music, and poetry. Her pieces often involve national structures—musical, cartographic, and linguistic.” (www.luckmanarts.org)
Joyce Lightbody is a current faculty member at Otis College of Art and Design. She was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She got a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1974. Her works has been selected to exhibit since 1975 in California, New York, Nevada, Texas and Illinois. (www.acmelosangeles.com) After I had walked throughout the exhibition, I had the opportunity to speak with the woman sitting at the front desk of the gallery. She told me a little bit about Joyce Lightbody. The most interesting part was that Joyce Lightbody is also a music composer and stamp collector. Her parallel interests clearly reflect her style and the media that she had used for this collection. Stamps have been collaged to cover the majority part of her works with several meanings depending on what she wants to say through her works. There were seven pieces of collaged work from Joyce Lightbody in the exhibition including Anchored In Deep Water, 2002, Colliope Song, 1998, Play Both Sides, 1997, Tea For Two For One, 2001, Central Hearing for Olivier Messiaen, 2003, Untitled, 1990, and More for the Poets, 1998.
Anchored In Deep Water, 2002 (mixed media collage) is displayed at the left side of her collection. Obviously, the first thing that struck my eyes is the use of several postage stamps to cover the bottom part of the artwork. Numerous shades of blue stamps are used to represent the color of the ocean. In addition, different shades of orange and brown stamps are collaged to be an anchor and chains. These stamps make me think of a journey to different places in the world. Joyce Lightbody used stamps to represent the journey of this beautiful ship. The ship transports from one location to another by dropping the anchor in the ocean where the ship is stopped. Joyce Lightbody wrote the name of the artwork in the middle of this piece with her own handwriting. The fact that she wrote the name of the artwork in this style of lettering makes me categorize her handwriting as one of the typefaces.
Again, in Play Both Sides, 1997 (oil, ink and postage stamps on paper, mounted on wood), she wrote something in the middle right of her artwork with the same typeface. The composition of shape and form in the piece makes the artwork look like a birdhouse. The circular hole on the top of the artwork and the perch in the central part is reminiscent of a birdhouse. Joyce Lightbody also used several bird stamps around the artwork to create a collage. The bird stamps are not only the decoration of this piece, but also provide and imply the meaning to the audiences. I viewed Play Both Sides as a wonderful combination of the colors. I wondered how she combined and collaged different colors from the different stamps so beautifully without competing important element. Further, I realized the meaning of using the stamps of different birds around the artwork and also the composition of the small elements. All the elements were placed in the appropriate position to form a birdhouse. Position in the middle of the artwork, she had painted with blue color and a similar orange color in, Anchored In Deep Water.
Colliope Song, 1998(mixed media) is one out of two pieces that Joyce Lightbody did not use stamps in her artwork. Nevertheless, the audience is able to tell that she created this piece as well. Due to the style of typeface and the combination of the colors, I would give these two apparent factors as her style. The story in this piece is all about her personal interests, which include music and notes. Every single element is a part of the musical symbols. Such as, note lines, quarter note, half note, whole note, bass clef sign, and treble clef sign. Personally, I could not read the musical notes, but I totally believe that the person who can read it will understand the meaning from this piece. I cannot imagine that the musical symbols could be composed beautifully with color and decorations.
By and large, the style of the artwork comes from individual and personal interest. However, the style will be different even if the artists are focusing on the same topic. It depends on their experience and the media that are selected to create and construct their works. Many artists communicate the meaning directly through the elements and pictures. Nevertheless, some of them hide the meanings behind those pictures in order to make the audiences pay special attention to them. In conclusion, I would like to give credit to our University gallery that exhibited an excellent collection from contemporary artists located in Los Angeles. Also providing us an opportunity to appreciate these collections at our university for almost seven weeks. The exhibition was impressive and the collections in the exhibition were varied. We were provided a chance to observe and learn more about fine arts from contrasting views and from different artists.
~Yothsaran (Natt) Rermraksakul
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