Collage Art by Eric Martin showing at Sagebrush Cafe
November 1, 2014 through January, 2015
“Making collage art is a bit like dreaming, for me anyway. Even when there is a plan, there is also quite a bit of moment-to-moment decision-making, spontaneity and accident. Pieces develop in fits and starts. You make leaps. Layers of ideas pile one on top of the other. Layers of potential meaning too. Associative thinking runs rampant.
“It’s tempting to wonder why certain images crop up in anyone’s art. And it’s tempting to wonder why certain images crop up in your own art. Why a boat? Why a horse? What do these images mean?
“Carl Jung once said, “Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
“Artists will relate to this notion and think immediately of the creative process – as a way of bringing the inside out, balancing the inner life with outward expression. But is art a way of waking up? Or is it a way of dreaming out loud? Maybe those two things are the same.
“Thinking about Carl Jung and his dream theories I tried to diagnose some of the pieces in this show. That turned out to be a real rabbit hole… They could mean anything. The unconscious mind reads like a horoscope.
“For my part, I think that some dreams do probably mean something, though I couldn’t say what. They may be pedestrian most of the time, just recycling a day’s memories. But sometimes they might be more than that. Discoveries can be made. In a dream, your eyes can be opened. What will you see?”
This is the text of my artist statement. I know it’s weird to put it in quotes since I am the editor of this blog. But that’s what I did, because…I don’t know. I just did.
Antelope Valley Arts 