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PrintBeyond paint and bronze
Viewers of mixed media works ask whodunit, howdunit.
Paper aged by the elements. Xeroxed photographs. Pages from children’s books, dictionaries. Resin applied by a blowtorch. Ashley Collins layers all these elements on enormous panels to create scenes as timeless as they are evocative. Diehl Gallery will host the blue chip artist with a reception on July 23.
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Intrigue frames mixed media works. Viewers peer in, discovering personal associations. A startled horse, mane flying, like one just ridden.
Mystery envelops the artists as well as they venture beyond tradition, uncertain of outcome, confident in their creative impulse. Galleries take risks, too, representing such artists. It’s an adventuresome spirit well suited to Jackson, and celebrated often with new exhibitions.
Before her summer show at Diehl Gallery, Ashley Collins lifted the curtain on part of her technique, while the rest “must simply remain the magic of the process.”
What she revealed begins with exposing paper to the elements – sun, wind, rain – an aging that can take years. The wait is worth it, she says. “People can feel the energy of something natural that cannot be quickly created.”
The weathered paper evokes timelessness.
“Have you ever walked into a used bookstore and found a book that has a personal hand-written [note] dated 1912?” she posits. “It is the magic of time encapsulated.”
Just as the book’s note fascinates decades later, Collins’ work lures with its layers, evocative both of the artist and her history.
Growing up under repressive parents in northern California, Collins escaped through art – a creative coping her parents interpreted as a psychological disorder. Leaving home at a young age, she scraped by for years, prioritizing art above food and shelter. To subvert the impenetrable art world, she adopted a male identity in marketing her works. Ashley Collins, the man, finally sold a painting in 1989. Since, her paintings have set new records for sales by living female contemporary artists.
Each work traces Collins’ journey. She begins with pages from children’s books and dictionaries, references to the “constant bombardment of information... you must have this kind of job, this kind of family, this kind of beauty, this kind of style – really most of it meaningless information at the end of the day,” she says. Then, she adds the weathered paper, “which, layer by layer, calms that noise until we are left with beauty,” as defined by each viewer.
A final layer of resin, applied with a blowtorch, ignites intrigue. In Turn, a glossy firework focuses impact on a rearing horse. Such tantalizing surfaces invite touch, an interaction the artist encourages, according to Mariam Diehl, owner of Diehl Gallery.
Horses often appear as symbols of strength.
