Metromatic - combine

 Metromatic

Collage: Turkeys Bearing Arms

art show reception

Jim Riccio / Will Brady
Two Distinct Visions
of the World
18th January through early March 2012

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Rathbun Free Library – East Haddam, CT

36 Main Street / Route 149, East Haddam Village
½ mile from the East Haddam Swing Bridge
[call 860-873-8210 for hours]

Reception – Thursday, 26th of January 2012
6:00 to 7:30 pm

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I plan on doing a talk on collage and collage making some time during the month of February. Watch for it.

New collage works

Adirondack reverie (c.2011)

A bit about the technical end:
Each collage is “built” by laying the items down atop a larger surface until I get an assortment of items that look interesting together.

That’s the easy part!

The finished array is photographed, and the objects removed,
Then I figure out how to put them back together while making it appear as if the objects are just floating atop one another.

That’s the hard part of making the collage.

The base of a work might be drilled and bolted from the back. Choosing the right glues and epoxies have to be considered. Some won’t help to hold different surfaces together. Some glues have properties that don’t look good when hardened. Even figuring how to keep pieces fixed together while a fixative sets can be daunting. And, there are times, I make no attempt to disguise how a work has been put together. The things holding things together become part of the finished project.

For more information about collage, and collage artists, check out the website: http://www.collageart.org/

at the New Britain Library - large work

Montreal Streetscape (c. 2010)

Tiger out of the Cage (c. 2011)

Tucson (c.2009)

at the New Britain Library - medium sized work

19 (c. 2010)

Come Clean (c. 2010)

Oracle (c.2009)

Turkey Bearing Arms (c.2011)

At the New Britain Library - small works

Justice (c. 2005)

Lug (c. 2009)

Hot Stuff (c. 2011)

The exhibit is down (as of Saturday). Looking for a new space to show my work..

original work - Tag Sale

original work - Heat Grate collages

     When we turned on the forced air heat this autumn, we discovered that one or more of the cats had been using two of the ducts as urinals. Phew! Few things more olfactorily noxious that concentrated dried cat piss. Even after attempting to clean the ducts the smell has etched its way into the galvanized sheet metal [don't you just love the power of ionization?] We had to actually replace part of the duct-work.

     So the solution we came up with was to create floor collages to cover the ducts but still allow the heat to rise from them. The objects are different heights, angles and positions from one another, so none of cats are comfortable climbing on top. we also made judicious use of mothballs, which the cats finds offensive to the smell. They also make our house have a stereotypical "old lady" smell.
     But the floor collages seem to be doing the trick. Not only do the cats refuse to climb up on them, one of the cats - Jake - seemed positively spooked when he first saw them. Time will tell. I certainly hope they work.
     I wouldn't want to have to get Archibald "Harry" Tuttle to repair the ducts, that's for sure.

artworks - Montreal Streetscape

     The objective was to collect things I saw in and around Montreal when I went on annual holiday last spring. Except for the green grid and a sheet of tempered glass, everything else came from there. The tempered glass came from an old refrigerator, and I had seen one on the streets as we wandered about.
     At times [such as when I was collecting the police barrier tape] Bruce walked away from me, not wanting to be seen with a junk collector.
     I'm glad customs did not ask me to open my bags. How would I have explained all those odds and ends.

exhibitions - Will Brady at La Paloma in Hartford

     Starting Saturday, the 23rd of October some of my work will be on display at:
     La Paloma Sabanera,
a coffee house in Hartford, CT at 405 Capitol Avenue. That's about four blocks west of the State Capitol. The view on the right shows the Capitol's dome.

The works include some older paintings that have not been on public display for almost 20 years, including Windows on Hartford [a 9 foot by two foot panorama of the city painted in 1990], two brand new collage constructions, which are new to public view; as well a number of landscapes borrowed from other folks' collections.

     La Paloma is known for it's commitment to social justice and activism so I can assure you that I have included some pieces that will fit in that category. I plan on displaying these close to the front of the space.

     I hope to have a reception some time during the month, but have not yet firmed up a day with Virginia Iacobucci, the bistro's owner. Watch here for updates.

original work - nineteen

original work - Industry

travel - paris recollections

collage from my sketchbook during a tour of Paris
sketch of the Bateaux Parisians, the tour boats that paddle tourists up and down the River Seine; some actually provide a very tasty cuisine

exhibitions

Recently I've had chances to exhibit my art work more frequently; New Britain Art League, the East Haddam Artists show. I hope to be able to show in more locations in the future. Coming up:

 • Berkshire Artists Colony
   107 Main Street, North Adams, MA

The photo is from an exhibit in North Adams last autumn.