Human Landscape Series
The pieces on this site are the "Human Landscape" series of "body part" collages
that I have been working on for the last few years and continue to pursue.
They are made with body parts cut out of fashion magazine ads, which are collaged
onto a background that I paint on watercolor paper using acrylic paint and water.
Since some of the pieces have parts that extend beyond the paper, I mount
them in shadow boxes to create the shadow effect on the white background paper.
When I first started this series, as I was cutting out the pieces from the magazine ads,
I was struck by how grotesque the previously "perfect" looking models became when they
were reduced to only body parts, and it seemed like a statement about objectifying
the models, who become only clothes hangers and display vehicles to sell
clothing. It also says something about the unrealistic standards of beauty that are foisted
upon the public by the fashion industry, since even the models are only human beings made
up of the same parts everyone has, but who are artificially presented with tricks of
Photoshop, lighting and other gimmicks.
The body part collages also represent the idea that we are all part of
nature since our bodies are made up of elements that have existed throughout the
universe since the Big Bang.