I recently saw a Stuart Davis book in one of my lunch time excursions to an air-conditioned Kinokuniya on a hot day in January. I resolved to do a Stuart Davis inspired collage, and even spent a little time getting inspo online – ai have included a few of my faves here. I realised of course once I began that this isn’t new for me. While i didn’t do a Stuart Davis in my Inspired Theme series, the collages that I did afterwards from offcuts were pretty close in feel.
And as it turns out Stuart Davis had inspired me before – in acrylic. See here.
My Sydney Harbour stuff was inspired by this work, although now i see it again I could go back and start again to get something different. I’m noticing when it’s too complex (the lines thicken/hotel one) he uses colour blocking to make it feel simpler. I have to remember colour gives meaning to the eye, but it doesn’t have to be faithful to the what they eye sees in the real world – i.e. not literal.
