2
3
COLLagE at 100
iii/iii
Michael Oatman (Another Fine Mess)
Curated by Todd Bartel Thompson Gallery, The Cambridge School of Weston Published on the occasion of the exhibition Michael Oatman (Another Fine Mess) April 1 – June 16, 2013 © Thompson Gallery, The Cambridge School of Weston Design Todd Bartel Printed on demand by Lulu.com Essay and forward © 2012 Todd Bartel Artist’s Statement and Biography © 2012 Michael Oatman Edited by Eli Keehn Photography © 2013 Todd Bartel, (except 73, 74, 78, 79, 162 (bottom), 174, 175, 191, 208, 209, 246 provided by the artist) All rights reserved The Cambridge School of Weston 45 Georgian Road Weston, MA 02493 Cover, end pages and page 15: Todd Bartel, Michael Oatman, All Utopias Fell, 2010 (Blank Slates—History of Collage Series), 2012 digitally generated, laser-cut collage (cut at Kennedy Fabrications, New York, NY) on Rives BFK, mounted on museum board, 22 x 30 inches Page 304: Charles Wilson Peale, Staircase Group, and Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Saircase, used without permission.
Thompson Gallery 4
Collage at 100 Fall: Strange Glue (Traditional & Avant-garde Collage) Winter: Strange Glue (Collage & Installation) Spring: Michael Oatman (Another Fine Mess) Collage at 100 is a three-part, yearlong exhibition series that celebrates the centennial of the appearance of collage in painting. In its first 100 years, collage has become ubiquitous within contemporary art and culture and its myriad applications have expanded its original definition to become the most inclusive of artistic processes. Another Fine Mess examines celebrated contemporary artist Michael Oatman’s encyclopedic approach to art making. Spanning three decades, the show assembles a selection of the artist’s densely accumulative works, ranging from early pivotal pieces to his monumental collages, installations and recent work made for the final exhibition in the Collage at 100 series. ABOUT THE THOMPSON GALLERY The Thompson Gallery is a teaching gallery at The Cambridge School of Weston dedicated to exploring single themes through three separate exhibitions, offering differing vantages of the selected topic. Named in honor of school trustee John Thompson and family, the Gallery promotes opportunities to experience contemporary art by local, national and international artists and periodically showcases the art of faculty, staff and alumni. The Gallery is located within the Garthwaite Center for Science and Art, The Cambridge School of Weston, 45 Georgian Road Weston, MA 02493. M–F 9–4:30 p.m. and by appointment (school calendar applies). Visit thompsongallery.csw.org to view exhibit art. ABOUT THE CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF WESTON The Cambridge School of Weston, located in a Boston suburb, is a progressive, coeducational, day and boarding school for grades 9 through 12, and post graduate. Established in 1886, the school is dedicated to fostering individual strengths and deep, meaningful relationships through a wide range of challenging courses and a variety of teaching styles. csw.org
5
6
COLLagE at 100
iii/iii
Michael Oatman (Another Fine Mess)
April 1 - June 16, 2013
7
8
Foreword/acknowledgments
10
For you, the world. Karl Fisher (1960-2013), CSW Art Department Chair Fifty years ago we were pariahs. A young girl’s parents would never let her marry an artist. Marcel Duchamp, 1964 As the Collage at 100 exhibition series comes to a close with the publication of this catalog for Michael Oatman’s exhibition, I cannot help but marvel at Duchamp’s quote, now roughly fifty years old. Though art has clearly had a treasured place in western culture, Duchamp’s point indicates a major shift in attitude that occurred sometime between 1912 and 1964. Duchamp observed that shift when I was two years old, and indeed, the more I study the last century of art, the more I have come to recognize that we are living in extraordinary times. I was born in July 1962, fifty years after Picasso’s (May 1912) and Braque’s (August 1912) joint invention of fine art collage. While I was certainly not aware of collage, its history, or its impact until after earning a bachelor’s degree in painting in the mid 1980s, I have taken notice, over the past several decades, of the ways collage has pervaded every nook and corner of postmodernity. Since the early 1990s I have mused that one day historians will look back at the 20th century as a time of artistic importance comparable in greatness to the Italian Renaissance. While there is no dispute about the impact of collage on modern art, I nevertheless receive a lot of smirks, raised eyebrows, laughter and looks of incredulity anytime I impart my observation to friends, colleagues and even students. But the fact remains that in my lifetime I have witnessed a major cultural shift within the world of art. Today, everyone is touched by collage, its various ideologies and its endless aesthetic
possibilities; it is inescapable. I could not say that when I was in high school; most people back then had no sense of the history of collage, nor did we realize that the advent of the digital age, just years away, would bring collage even more deeply into our lives. Today the word “collage” conjures instant recognition wherever you go. This series of exhibitions, with its accompanying catalogs, is my formal and public treatise aimed at illuminating my convictions, and the work of Michael Oatman is a particularly poignant example of how pervasive and expansive collage has become. Creating a catalog for Michael Oatman— Another Fine Mess was a labor of love. The relatively recent advent of digital photography relative to the date of most of the works’ creation, coupled with the need for thorough documentation, necessitated a massive amount of photographic work. At the time of assembling the show, the artist provided fewer than a dozen digital photographs of his work, but over sixty works were exhibited—most of which comprised numerous individual components, each necessitating digital photographic recording. Including the photography of the exhibit itself, more than 700 photographs and scans were needed to visually capture Another Fine Mess—yet another sense of the meaning of Oatman’s title. I gladly took on the challenge for selfish, but also pedagogical, reasons—I wanted to bring the many sides of Oatman’s art to the attention of our students and viewers. The project of putting together this catalog was sadly interrupted by the untimely passing of Karl Fisher—the chair of the CSW Art Department from 2004 to 2013, and a celebrated collage artist himself—who suffered a severe stroke on February 15, 2013, dying five days later. His passing was 11
a shock to our community and it took a toll in many ways. Karl Fisher was a wonderfully kind and generous humanist, who gave fully to the acts of teaching and leading. His genuinely open and jovial attitude was infectious, his interests eclectic, and his many gifts continue to resonate. On the heels of Karl’s passing, with the opening only a few weeks away, it took an enormous effort to finalize the Another Fine Mess exhibition. The exhibition was mounted on schedule and the community received Michael Oatman’s artistic universe to wide acclaim. During that time, however, I also inherited Karl Fisher’s role as the Cambridge School of Weston’s Community Gallery Coordinator—the student centered gallery that changes exhibitions every 5 weeks—and the extra workload simply prevented me for completing my overly ambitious projects. Thus, publishing this catalog remains an unfinished project, inasmuch as my vision for the essay on Michael Oatman’s art is far greater than what the following pages actually make concrete. It took the better part of the summer of 2013 to catch up with the physical labor of documenting Oatman’s work for this publication and to assemble the pages that follow. The bulk of that work was competed by late August of 2013, but I ran out of time and necessarily had to refocus in order to keep the Thompson Gallery’s yearly itinerary on track. Thus, for want of a scholarly essay that places Michael Oatman’s work in a lineage of contemporary, collagebased artists, the ironically titled Another Fine Mess catalog remains a work in progress still needing to be sorted out. Nevertheless, I recently stole some time to complete this forward and, finally, two years later, this publication is finally coming to light. Years ago, I began collecting a list of terms to document the many actions and ideas collage 12
involves. During my initial reflections, I easily accumulated over a thousand words. As I took stock of the accumulation of words I had amassed, a numinous, daunting idea arose, and I wrote a note to myself at the bottom of my list: “I am afraid this task will end up involving every word in every dictionary ever compiled. And of course it does.”1 Search, dowse, hunt, find, happen upon, use, borrow, reference, appropriate, assemble, bind, express, enlighten—everything we do, say and think is collage. Michael Oatman’s work beautifully shows how life is collage and what a fine mess it all is. His work embraces eclecticism with a fervor that is unprecedented in contemporary art. As a creative thinker, Oatman is a walking encyclopedia, a Renaissance Man, whose mind and interests are never idle. Oatman’s collage work has spanned three decades and myriad strategies to get at the endless possibilities of collage’s inclusive potential. This catalog aims to shed light on several of his most important strategies. In short, it was assembled to illuminate how Oatman’s pursuits have evolved into his most adventuresome and outlandish works—the installations he calls “maximum collages.” The Another Fine Mess catalog is organized by Oatman’s most basic and recurrent categories of production, including but not limited to: Collages, Engraving Collages & Diazo Prints, Collage Drawings & Prints, Books, Objects & Assemblages, Assemblage Paintings, Monumental Collages, Installations & Site Specific Works, and, finally, Installations & Site Specific Works at Mass MoCA. One problem of such organization is Oatman’s works often defy categorization; the artist typically straddles, if not synthesizes, artistic genres, thereby demonstrating the malleability of the traditional divisions of production. The
catalog, like Oatman’s work, begins with traditional papier collé, and quickly morphs from one area into the next in a game of genre tag until it expands into maximum inclusivity—the artist’s installations. In truth, many works are quite versatile and easily fit into more than one category. Be on the look out for doubles, doppelgangers, look-alikes, decoys, and ambiguities—Oatman loves mystery, riddle and wordplay! I would like to thank Michael Oatman for his considerable patience in awaiting the publication of this monograph, two years after the close of his exhibition. In the interim, we are both settling for this “first edition,” which is published without the anticipated and expanded essay aimed at connecting Oatman’s work to art-historical antecedents and alignments. In lieu of postponing the publication any further, we opted to expand the publication via a “second edition,” at a later date. I would like to acknowledge and thank Georgia Wyman (CSW ‘11) for allowing me to take the impromptu photographs on pages 298299. Georgia just happened to “be in the right place” at the time of my documenting Michael Oatman’s The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation) [pages 172183, and 289-295]. I very much appreciated her gracious assistance as a model, which helps communicate the interactive nature of Oatman’s monumental work. I am grateful to Shannon Sly and William Bitter, of Hamilton College’s Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum, for their willingness to take down their installation of The Branch according to the Thompson Gallery’s needs and schedule.
He is an accomplished artist who eloquently and surprisingly elucidates the three main activities of collage: finding, minding and binding. Michael Oatman has not only mastered each essential collage operation; his work dissolves the barriers between them. Todd Bartel Director, Curator Thompson Gallery August 22, 2013, & August 7, 2015 __________________________ 1. Bartel, Todd, Collage—A List of Related Words, 2008-
Another Fine Mess is the largest and most thorough exhibition of Michael Oatman’s work to date. It is fitting that the final segment of the Collage at One Hundred exhibition series focuses on Michael Oatman’s work. 13
COLLagE at 100
iii/iii
Michael Oatman
(Another Fine Mess)
18
Another Fine Mess One should never underestimate the power of books.1 Paul Auster, 2006 Deep down, I don’t believe it takes any special talent for a person to lift himself off the ground and hover in the air. We all have it in us—every man, woman, and child—and with enough hard work and concentration, every human being is capable of…the feat….You must learn to stop being yourself. That’s where it begins, and everything else follows from that. You must let yourself evaporate. Let your muscles go limp, breathe until you feel your soul pouring out of you, and then shut your eyes. That’s how it’s done. The emptiness inside your body grows lighter than the air around you. Little by little, you begin to weigh less than nothing. You shut your eyes; you spread your arms; you let yourself evaporate. And then, little by little, you lift yourself off the ground. Like so.2 Paul Auster, 1995 If one looks at a thing with the intention of trying to discover what it means, one ends up no longer seeing the thing itself, but thinking of the question that has been raised. The mind sees in two different senses: (1) sees, as with the eyes; and (2) sees a question (no eyes).3 René Magritte, 1933 Self-plagiarism is style.4 Alfred Hitchcock, 1976 Michael Oatman—Another Fine Mess is the third and final show in the Collage at 100 series—a triptych of exhibitions honoring the centennial of the invention of fine art collage by the Cubist pioneers Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Highlighted with a solo show, and chosen for his representatively expansive approach and his intellectual eclecticism, Burlington, Vermontborn Michael Oatman is the quintessential
collage artist. Another Fine Mess is a modest retrospective of the artist’s highly refined and encyclopedic collage work. Spanning from the early 1980s to the present, it surveys his major approaches to collage while highlighting key works from his 30-plus years as an image and object maker. With more than 60 works on display, Another Fine Mess is the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date. He is known especially for his monumental collages and installations, and the Thompson Gallery is pleased to include a select group of his oversized collages and smaller site-specific installations—some of which were either created for or reconfigured specifically for this exhibition. The first two shows in the Collage at 100 series set the stage for Another Fine Mess in a few important ways. They pointed out the evolutionary and expansive reach of collage’s influence as a new machine for seeing5 during its first century of development, illustrating how collage as a practice and attitude pervades all forms of creative expression. Likewise, collage has influenced everything Michael Oatman has made since his undergraduate days at the Rhode Island School of Design. The initial two exhibitions unequivocally demonstrated the need for the definition of the word “collage” to be expanded beyond the confines of physical glue—now, over 100 years since the invention of the genre, contemporary practice has proven that strict associations between paper and glue as an exclusive material set are no longer mandatory. Oatman’s continued contributions to the definition have verified the elasticity of collage; he is known for his “puzzle piece” collage method and his technological couplings. Viewers will find examples of artwork in Another Fine Mess that challenge the outmoded definition, alongside an abundance of works which keenly adhere to the traditional sense of the term. Additionally, the second exhibition, Strange Glue (Collage & Installation), 19
established that installation art is a natural extension of collage’s reach. As Oatman’s term maximum collage attests, collage is easily pushed passed its limitations with flat paper to involve sculpture, architecture, space and timebased media. Another Fine Mess presents works both inside and outside the gallery space as examples of such a claim, including Oatman’s ten-year installation at Mass MoCA, All Utopias Fell, for which the gallery organized a guided tour in the spring of 2013. Also, as pointed out in the accompanying essay to the first exhibition, Strange Glue (Traditional & Avantgarde Collage), the history of collage is the story of the decline of naturalism and the rise of fractured representation—naturalism promoted a single story or fixed point of view, whereas postmodern collage promotes multiple points of view, the simultaneity of multiple stories. Oatman often uses conventional approaches to depict objects and subjects, but also pushes past that limiting and often narrow conception6 (to borrow Peter Galassi’s phrase) to invent his own visual universes. Michael Oatman’s collage practice fuses many roles into one: dowser, collector, detective, librarian, archivist, taxonomist, thinker, poet, architect, filmmaker, collaborator, provocateur; the list goes on. However, as an eclectic, second-generation, collagebased artist, Oatman’s work has a distinct, easily identifiable look due to the ways he limits his source material. For the creation of his paper collages, the artist uses only book illustrations from the 1940s through the 1980s to form his imagery. Despite this self-imposed limitation, the artist opportunistically adapts his materials with great variety. It should be abundantly clear to anyone looking at the exhibited work that Oatman is a master collector, possessing great sensitivity and varied strategies for organizing any material. A key aspect of the artist’s approach to collage is his boundless opportunism. As noted above, 20
Oatman will utilize any and all technologies; he combines and blends them to great effect, often juxtaposing incongruent modalities and histories. Oatman’s juxtapositions are filled with insights into the ideas he exhaustively explores. He does not limit his subject matter the way many contemporary artists limit their overall practice. Oatman allows his collections to drive the content of the work or he collects particular images in order to drive a particular content. It seems that any found material or technological advance can prompt his imagination. Indeed, many pieces exhibited were created simply because the artist contemplated the potential for a material or a technology to do something it was not intended to do. In this way, Oatman’s creations may be thought of as nets for whatifs, wherein he catches the potential of ideas. Curious viewers are rewarded for venturing into the realm of possibility when viewing Oatman’s expansive art. Oatman is fascinated by wordplay, puns and double meanings, mimicry, impossibility, and the absurd, and these concepts often co-mingle with an appreciation for the surreal. Though much of his current work has political overtones, there is a deep optimism that runs through all his work. Oatman is generous in his appreciation of art and culture. He often acknowledges or references particular works or individuals in his various projects, including himself and his own work. Understanding the art of Michael Oatman is greatly enhanced by underscoring the artist’s deep appreciation of, and respect for, the art of Marcel Duchamp. Many works in the show pay homage not only to Duchamp, but also to Magritte, Hitchcock, Auster, and so many others. Oatman’s vision is as much a product of his appropriations as it is of his own unique sense of the world we live in. Visitors will be drawn in by Oatman’s references, his wit, his humor, and his ingenuity as a visual thinker. His various fascinations begin with working out his ideas on paper. Another Fine Mess is also the title of a
site-specific installation, created for exhibition within CSW’s scholastic setting. It offers viewers a rare opportunity to see the artist’s mind at work via his drawings and plans for projects. Among this collection of the artist’s sketches and sources for his ideas, the attentive viewer will find many preliminary ideas for works that hang on the walls of the gallery, among many others not included in the show. Michael Oatman’s art is made with deceptively simple illustrations of everyday, recognizable materials. But they are anything but everyday images. Many artists utilize collage as a strategy. Some artists develop bodies of work that expand collage’s applications. Few artists dedicate their artistic practice to the potentials of collage. Fewer still have made contributions to the genre by forging new possibilities. Michael Oatman distinguishes himself in each of these areas. He takes complex topics and simplifies them with his amalgams of book illustrations that exude the promise of hope as they entice and encourage viewers to sort out yet Another Fine Mess. Todd Bartel Director, Curator The Thompson Gallery __________________________
1. Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies, Picador USA, 2006, p. 304 2. Paul Auster, Mr Vertigo, Penguin Books USA, 1995, p. 278 3. René Magritte, cited in Humanist, Volume 84, Issues 1-6, Rationalist Press Association Ltd., January 1, 1969, p.176. 4. The Observer [London], (8 Aug. 1976) 5. Florian Rodari, Collage: Pasted, Cut and Torn Papers, Skira and Rizzoli, New York, NY, 1988, p. 31. 6. Note: Renaissance perspective adopted vision as the sole basis for representation: every perspective picture represents its subject as it would be seen from a particular point of view at a particular moment. Measured against the accumulated options of prior pictorial art, this is a narrow conception. Peter Galassi, Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1981, pp. 12-13. 21
22
Collages
Herpes (Sphere), circa 1980 collage, re-mixed cooking magazine 11 x 8.5 inches 24
Untitled (Title Plate 25. PIET MONDRIAN, Composition in White, Black, and Red. 1936. Cap’n Crunch Version), circa 1983 Cap’n Crunch cereal stickers and grease stain on reproduction of Mondrian painting 8 x 8.25 inches 25
Kid Rat, 1983 collage, perforation on paper 11.375 x 8.125 inches 26
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 1, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 27
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 2, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 28
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 3, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 29
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 4, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 30
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 5, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 31
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 6, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 32
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 7, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 33
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 8, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 34
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 9, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 35
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 10, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 36
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 11, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 37
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 12, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 38
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 13, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 39
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 14, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 40
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 15, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 41
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 16, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 42
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 17, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 43
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 18, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 44
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 19, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 45
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 20, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 46
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 21, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 47
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 22, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 48
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 23, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 49
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 24, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 50
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 25, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 51
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 26, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 52
A Boy’s History of the World in 27 Volumes, Volume 27, 1983 suite of 27 collages on paper 10 x 7 inches 53
Untitled (Threatened Landscape) [guns], 1984 collage, staples, embossing on paper 9.25 x 11.25 inches 54
Untitled (Threatened Landscape) [knives], 1984 collage, staples on paper 9 x 11.25 inches (collection of Todd Bartel) 55
Long Division, 1984 collage on paper; artist-made frame 8 x 9.25 inches 56
Incest, 1984 collage on paper 5.75 x 7.25 inches 57
World We Live In, 1984 collage on paper; artist-made frame 11.75 x 8.625 inches 58
I Remember Bill Hudders and He Looked Like This, 1985 collage on paper; artist-made frame 9 x 7 inches 59
The Temperature of Fractions, 1984 collage on paper; artist-made frame 13.875 x 14.25 inches 60
The Hero, 1985 collage on paper; artist-made frame 15 x 12.25 inches 61
Small Building and Wrecking Tools, 1985 collage on paper 12.5 x 17.685 inches 62
Civil War Mathematics, 1986-7 collage and erasing on paper 10.25 x 10 inches 63
Today’s Title: Chipped Bird in Box, 1985 carbon paper, gouache, pencil, typing, collage on paper 5.75 x 17.625 inches (collection of Todd Bartel) 64
Untitled (Target), 1986 collage on wallpaper 8.25 x 35.75 inches 65
Identikit Self-portrait by Detective D.F. Swann, Troy Police Department, Troy, N.Y. 1991, 1991 photocopy, tape on Mylar 12.5 x 16.5 inches 66
Untitled (Burqa), circa 2003 historic book cuttings on paper 20 x 15.5 inches 67
Weekend Warriors and Sunday Painters, 1991 historic book cuttings on paper, sand blasted glass, found newspaper box “EXTRA� sign, Foam Core 31.5 x 18.75 inches 68
Untitled (Unless), 2005 historic book cutting on found poster 27.5 x 35.5 inches (collection of Gina Occhiogrosso) 69
Corvus Webley, 2007 historic book cuttings on paper 16 x 21 inches (collection of Cesare DeCredico) 70
The Peaceable Kingdom (Early Bird), 2008 historic book cuttings on paper 12 x 17 inches 71
Study for Stained Glass for an Astronaut, 2010 historic book cuttings on found embossed lithograph, mounted on board 19.5 x 39.25 inches (collection of Christopher Derby-Kilfoyle) 72
AUF Souvenir Patch, 2010 (one of an edition of 100) embroidered patch on digitally printed paper 13 x 18 inches 73
Ten Years to the Day (for Richard Hamilton, 1922-2011), 2011 historic book cuttings on 1960s-era architectural gouache by Paul Rand, illustrator 22 x 37.5 inches 74
Another Morning at the Institute (for Ken Warriner, 1928-2009), 2011 historic book cuttings on 1960s-era architectural gouache by Paul Rand, illustrator 22 x 37.5 inches 75
The Suburbans, 2012 historic book cuttings on paper 9 x 11 inches 76
The Invention of the Wheel and/or Fire, 2012 historic book cuttings on paper 13.625 x 19 inches 77
78
Engraving Collages & Diazo Prints
So Stories, 1984 [1/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 5.5 x 6.75 inches 80
So Stories, 1984 [2/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 3.5 x 3.25 inches 81
So Stories, 1984 [3/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 2.75 x 4 inches 82
So Stories, 1984 [4/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4 x 2.75 inches 83
So Stories, 1984 [5/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 5.25 x 3.75 inches 84
So Stories, 1984 [6/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4 x 6 inches 85
So Stories, 1984 [7/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 86
So Stories, 1984 [8/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 87
So Stories, 1984 [9/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 88
So Stories, 1984 [10/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 89
So Stories, 1984 [11/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 5 x 5.5 inches 90
So Stories, 1984 [12/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 7 x 5 inches 91
So Stories, 1984 [13/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 3.75 x 6 inches 92
So Stories, 1984 [14/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 93
So Stories, 1984 [15/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 5.25 x 7 inches 94
So Stories, 1984 [16/16] suite of 16 engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 5.5 x 6.75 inches 95
untitled [unique framed Xerographic and Diazo print], 1984-85 Xerographic and Diazo print from found negatives and collage sources; paper photo studio portrait frames 13.75 x 6.75 inches 96
untitled [unique framed Xerographic and Diazo print], 1984-85 Xerographic and Diazo print from found negatives and collage sources; paper photo studio portrait frames 10 x 14 inches 97
untitled [unique framed Diazo prints], 1984-85 Xerographic and Diazo prints from found negatives and collage sources; paper photo studio portrait frames 14 x 7 inches each 98
untitled [unique framed Xerographic and Diazo print], 1984-85 Xerographic and Diazo print from found negatives and collage sources; paper photo studio portrait frames 16.75 x 11.25 inches 99
The Alchemist, 1985 [1/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 6.75 x 4.25 inches 100
The Alchemist, 1985 [2/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 6.25 x 5 inches 101
The Alchemist, 1985 [3/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 7 x 4.5 inches 102
The Alchemist, 1985 [4/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 6.75 x 4.75 inches 103
The Alchemist, 1985 [5/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 4.5 x 6.75 inches 104
The Alchemist, 1985 [6/6] suite of six engraving collages, Xerographic print on historic paper 2 x 4.5 inches 105
106
Collage Drawings & prints
AEIOU, 1983 lithograph on paper 15 x 10.75 inches 108
Rebus, 1984 pencil on paper 6.675 x 9 inches 109
Untitled (Astronaut), 1983 collage, colored pencil on blueprint 8.75 x 7 inches 110
Safe, 1985 collage, colored pencil, carbon paper, typing, gouache, masking tape on paper 9.375 x 14.75 inches 111
untitled, 1987 [hand drawn collage components] collage and ink on found paper 9.625 x 15 inches 112
Immortals, 1999 [1 of a series of 10 collages] oil, acrylic, pencil, foil, ink, carbon toner, collage on paper 15 x 12 inches (collection of Todd Bartel) 113
Ghost Reader (Hardy Boys), 1997 [suite of 22 prints] Xerox, gouache, watercolor on found wallpaper 8.5 x 11 inches each 114
Ghost Reader (Hardy Boys), 1997 [1 of 22] Xerox, gouache, watercolor on found wallpaper 8.5 x 11 inches 115
Ghost Reader (Hardy Boys), 1997 [2 of 22] Xerox, gouache, watercolor on found wallpaper 8.5 x 11 inches 116
Ghost Reader (Hardy Boys), 1997 [4 of 22] Xerox, gouache, watercolor on found wallpaper 8.5 x 11 inches 117
118
Books
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [p. 1] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 120
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 2-3] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 121
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 6-7] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 122
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 8-9] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 123
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 16-17] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 124
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 18-19] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 125
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 26-27] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 126
Skins of the Saints, 1990 [pp. 28-29] suite of 24 mixed media works; collage, oil, varnish, fiberglass resin, charcoal, decals, ink, gouache, tracing paper; case 11.375 x 14 inches case 15 x 13.125 x 2.25 inches 127
Surgeries, 1991 [cover] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 128
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 5] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 129
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 14] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 130
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 16] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 131
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 19] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 132
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 27] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 133
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 31] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 134
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 32] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 135
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 36] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 136
Surgeries, 1991 [p. 37] ink, gouache, White-Out, varnish, charcoal and decals with historic book cuttings on paper in found book; metal title plaque 13 x 10 x 2.75 inches 137
Ten Words or Less (Other People’s Memories), 1991 [cover] suite of eleven photographs with superimposed typing, ink and typewriter ribbon ink on found photographs mounted on black photo album pages each photograph 6.5 x 9.25 inches 138
Ten Words or Less (Other People’s Memories), 1991 [page 1] suite of eleven photographs with superimposed typing, ink and typewriter ribbon ink on found photographs mounted on black photo album pages each photograph 6.5 x 9.25 inches 139
Ten Words or Less (Other People’s Memories), 1991 [page 4] suite of eleven photographs with superimposed typing, ink and typewriter ribbon ink on found photographs mounted on black photo album pages each photograph 6.5 x 9.25 inches 140
Ten Words or Less (Other People’s Memories), 1991 [page 6] suite of eleven photographs with superimposed typing, ink and typewriter ribbon ink on found photographs mounted on black photo album pages each photograph 6.5 x 9.25 inches 141
The Glass Detective, 1992 Xerographic print on found paper, maps, decal, plastic spiral binding 8 x 3 inches 142
Book of Stamps, 2008 Cabinet Books, New York, 2008, pp. 68-69 10.5 x 16.75 inches (open) 143
Beautiful Moths, 2001 [cover] excised book (book with holes) 10.5 x 17 inches (open) 144
Beautiful Moths, 2001 [pp. 62-63] excised book (book with holes) 10.5 x 17 inches (open) 145
Beautiful Moths, 2001 [pp. 70-71] excised book (book with holes) 10.5 x 17 inches (open) 146
Beautiful Moths, 2001 [pp. 102-103] excised book (book with holes) 10.5 x 17 inches (open) 147
148
Objects & Assemblages
Jimmy is Flyin’, 1984 [collaboration with Mark Sporzynski] cut and glued papers, colored pencil and typewriter ribbon ink on billboard fragment with electric lights in found frame 8.5 x 12.5 inches, cord 83 inches (42 inches visible) 150
Average Yearly Rainfall, 1985 collage on paper; artist-made frame 10.375 x 9.75 inches, extension dimensions variable (collection of Cesare DeCredico) 151
Artzak Product: Heather Brand Lunch-eeze, 1984-85 [collaboration with Brian Kane] collage on paper on found product bodies; shrink wrap, decals 9.125 x 12.875 x 1.75 inches 152
Artzak Product: Frost Jet Self-Froster, 1984-85 [collaboration with Brian Kane] collage on paper on found product bodies; shrink wrap, decals 6.25 x 3.75 x 1.75 inches 153
Artzak Product: Spud Lite Cigarettes, 1984-85 [collaboration with Brian Kane] collage on paper on found product bodies; shrink wrap, decals 3.25 x 2.25 x 1 inches 154
Artzak Product: Spray on Light, 1984-85 [collaboration with Brian Kane] collage on paper on found product bodies; shrink wrap, decals 8 x 2 x 2 inches 155
Prometheus, 1991 fire box with broom, dustpan, hammer and etched glass 27 x 8 x 9.25 inches 156
There Will Be Time, 1993 collage mobile, case: grommets, lead sinker, spilt-shot, metal Trojan condom case, pliers, fishing line, earring, map, string, (first & third rows: recto; second & forth rows: verso) 72 x 15 x 11 inches (when fully displayed as suspended mobile) 157
Achilles Standard, 2001/2007 custom case; catalogued samples of materials from the artist’s body: hair (various), fingernails, toenails, blood, semen, urine, saliva, skin cells; casts of upper and lower teeth; size 10 shoe soles (left and right); handwriting samples; voice recording; glasses; rubber stamps made from the artist’s fingerprints, inkpads, fingerprinting manual; various time/ date stamps; various tools, rack and folios 12 x 29 x 12 inches (case open) 158
Forest Freshn’r, 2011 [collaboration with Brian Kane] inkjet graphics on paper with rope, custom plastic bag with safety tape decal, oversize staple, mounted to the Garthwaite’s atrium ceiling beam 68.25 inches x 23.375 inches 159
160
Assemblage Paintings
War Years: The Body Rejects its Own Organs, 1990 oil, varnish and fiberglass resin on organza mounted on reconfigured box spring mattress 74.25 x 36.25 x 7.5 inches 162
The Wound Man, 1991 acrylic and bed matting on found vinyl headboard, vinyl wallpaper and wood frame 88 x 49 x 4 inches 163
164
Monumental Collages
Annals of the Former World, 2009 historic book cutting collage on paper treated with automotive paint; custom-made frame in two parts by the artist’s father, Gordon Oatman each panel 24 x 120 inches 166
167
Annals of the Former World, 2009 above: left panel, below: right panel
168
169
Code of Arms, 2004 historic book cutting collage on inkjet printed archival paper; Pantone color matched to the artist’s blood sample; artist-made custom frame with historic lab ware racks 106.75 x 54 x 3.5 inches 170
Code of Arms, 2004 [detail]
171
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 collage of historic book cuttings, construction paper, leaf bag, posted sign, bulletin board paper on Masonite and Foam Core; Dymo label maker decals with texts; 8 custom frames made by the artist’s father, Gordon Oatman; rolling stairs; binoculars total framed dimensions, 120 x 360 inches 172
173
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [details] Winter 1: The Branch: Rivers of Youth (12.8.63) 24 x 120 inches 174
175
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Complete Idiot (M.I.) 18 x 51 inches 176
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Our Great Piece of Turf (1928-2012) 48 x 60 inches 177
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Spring: Or, Now We Are Even (C.E.S.) 84 x 36 inches 178
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Summer: The First Death (A.F.) 96 x 48 inches 179
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Autumn: Site of Time (8.31.63) 72 x 224 inches 180
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Winter 2: Of and For (8.4.01) 60 x 12 inches 181
182
The Branch (or, the Site of Our Complete Liberation), 2012 [detail] Liberation: Once More to that Star (M.D.) 18 x 18 inches 183
184
Installations & Site Specific works
Taken: 1o The Photograph, 2 o The Confession [clipboard from the Traveling Version], 2001 modified clipboard, paper, video monitor, DVD 23 x 10 inches; 01:20:00 minute loop 186
Taken: 1o The Photograph, 2 o The Confession (Traveling Version), 2001 modified clipboard, paper, video monitor, DVD 23 x 10 inches; 01:20:00 minute loop [pictured for reference; not in show.] 187
Slipcovers, 2003 ten found paintings by Henry Daneka, (Troy, NY); canvas slipcovers, buttonhole stitching in shaped cutouts revealing details by this self-taught painter, who learned by copying the paintings of Master painters dimensions variable, 10 panels installation dimensions 82.675 x 95.25 inches 188
Slipcovers, 2003 [detail: canvas covered painting of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa by Henry Daneka]
189
Slipcovers, 2003 [detail: canvas covered painting of Vermeer’s Young Woman with a Water Pitcher by Henry Daneka]
190
Slipcovers, 2003 [detail: canvas covered painting, Henry Daneka own creation?]
191
A Romance in Optics, 2005 portable tower optical viewer with steamer trunk base/shipping case, map, surveyor’s stand and miniature video screen, video; assorted coin currency, taxi decal, mannequin head with embroidered logo hat dimensions variable Spinning Coin video, 00:01:00 loop; A Romance in Optics video, 00:40:00 minute loop 192
A Romance in Optics, 2005 [installation details]
193
A Romance in Optics Video, 2005 [select details] 00:40:00 minute loop question posed by the artist in video: if you could use this machine to see anything from the past, present or future, a person or an event, what would you most desire to see? 194
A Romance in Optics, 2005 [tower optical viewer details]
quoted from the video: This plaque is an exact replica of the one attached to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Launched
by NASA in 1973, the Pioneer 10 is the first man-made object to leave the solar system. Therefore, the Pioneer 10 is the first true “child of the earth,� born of the human imagination and entrusted to the universe. It is presented on this day, December 21, 2004, to the Mayor of Hanga Roa, his family, and the people of Rapa Nui. For if Rapa Nui is the navel of the world, an umbilicus is now drawn between this place and the child of the earth, Pioneer 10. We hope that those who encounter the satellite will understand our message of peace and that this is our home. portable tower optical viewer with steamer trunk base/shipping case 66.75 x 27.25 x 23.25 inches 195
A is for Dodo, 2005-present found images of Dodo birds, metallic frames, magnets installation dimensions 79 x 90 inches 196
A is for Dodo, 2005-present [framed dodos] found images of Dodo birds, metallic frames, magnets installation dimensions 79 x 90 inches 197
Another Fine Mess, 2013 display of selected drawings and source materials, 1978-present; frame one: Michael Oatman/Todd Bartel and anonymous maker, No Title (Sign-out envelope for RISD clipping room), circa 1984, marker and pen on manila envelope, 15 x 13.875 inches, NFS; frame two: Opener 9 Michael Oatman: A Lifetime of Service and a Mile of Thread, (Michael Oatman/Ian Berry/Tang Museum), 2007, museum publication featuring Strand Bookstore barcode sticker 9.25 x 7 x .5 inches 198
Another Fine Mess, 2013 [key and seleced drawings]
199
Another Fine Mess, 2013 [seleced drawings]
200
Another Fine Mess, 2013 [seleced drawings]
201
202
Installations & Site Specific works
Mass Moca, North Adams, MA All Utopias Fell Codex Solis The Mystery in Building 5 The Shining Library of the SuN
Mystery in Building 5 While running cables for the photovoltaic system through the Building 5 basement, workers made a strange discovery. Behind a bricked-up doorway were five sturdy wooden crates, each stenciled with “SPRAGUE” (the name of the electronics company that formerly occupied the MASS MoCA buildings) and an address in Melbourne, Florida. An attached bill of lading from 1973 indicated they had been sealed for shipment. Upon opening the crates, workers found tools, electrical components (many of which were manufactured at Sprague Electric), a small wind tunnel, a stationary bicycle, hundreds of drawings and documents, and two large items designated ‘Console A’ and ‘Console C.’ Records for the Florida address show that the house had been briefly owned by retired Sprague employee Donald Carusi, who moved there in August 1973. In November of that year, Carusi was found dead in his attic, where it appeared he had been electrocuted while hooking up a grounding wire to an oversize, homemade TV aerial. Interviews with other former Sprague
Codex Solis, 2007 51.6kW grid-connected photovoltaic array and mirrors on the roof of the Building 5 gallery, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA 22 x 230 feet 204
employees have turned up little pertinent information other than that Carusi was “a quiet guy,” “a hard worker” and “could fix anything, without ever looking at the manual.” A search of the local newspaper archive showed only that there was an unusual number of power blackouts in Carusi’s North Adams neighborhood in the months prior to his move south. The problem was blamed on a faulty transformer. During the summer of 2007, artist Michael Oatman requested permission to examine the contents of the crates in more detail. Plugging in the consoles, he was surprised to discover that many of the components ‘powered up.’ Even more curious was the fact that several of the gauges began displaying the same ‘live’ images as Building 5’s closed-circuit security camera system. The signal grows stronger when the consoles are closer to the solar installation as if the array is functioning as a massive antenna. After several months of observation it appears that the consoles are communicating with offsite devices, acquiring images of unknown origin.
The Mystery in Building 5, 2007 wooden consoles, salvaged electronics, stool, 1920s sauana, shelving, wind tunnel, Airstream model and human hair, video/audio and wall text dimensions variable, 18 x 12 feet 205
The Shining, 2010 1973 Airstream trailer, working photovoltaics, steel armature, surplus Chinese parachutes, enamel 31 x 32 feet 206
The Library of the Sun, 2010 400+ books, 100 record albums, 300+ laminated solar images, 200+ yarn God’s Eyes, electronics, hand tools, stain glass window, found home-made exercise bike, magnetic paint, blackboard paint, Dimo label maker texts, Richard Brautigan short story I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone, canned tomatoes, above ground pool surround, video/audio, photovoltaic instrumentation 30 x 7 feet 207
Expedition: I Go to Eat the Hot Star Vehicle: Haleigh (christened 1977) Pilot: Donald Carusi 208
Launch Date: 7/28/1978 Reentry Date: 10/2/2009 Reentry Time: 1:00 AM, ETD 209
The Shining, 2010 port
210
The Shining, 2010 starboard
211
The Shining, 2010 outrigger and rigging
212
The Shining, 2010 stern
213
The Shining, 2010 stern portholes
214
The Shining, 2010 port, entrance
215
The Shining, 2010 solar wing with view of Solis Codex, 2007
216
The Shining, 2010 exterior details
217
The Shining, 2010 exterior detail
218
The Shining, 2010 exterior detail
219
The Shining, 2010 Library of the Sun, 2010 entrance 220
Library of the Sun, 2010 living quarters
221
Library of the Sun, 2010 living quarters
222
Library of the Sun, 2010 living quarters
223
Library of the Sun, 2010 escape hatch and view of workbench detail: upsidedown sampler (compass becomes sun) 224
Library of the Sun, 2010 entrance and view of workbench
225
Library of the Sun, 2010 workbench
226
Library of the Sun, 2010 workbench
227
Library of the Sun, 2010 library
228
Library of the Sun, 2010 library
229
Library of the Sun, 2010 bridge
230
Library of the Sun, 2010 cockpit moniter: Carusi’s farewell stills
231
Library of the Sun, 2010 cockpit
232
Library of the Sun, 2010 library hall, with view of head/galley, workbench and living quarters
233
Library of the Sun, 2010 doorway to head/gallery
234
Library of the Sun, 2010 head/galley/infirmary
235
Library of the Sun, 2010 stowage
236
Library of the Sun, 2010 stowage
237
Library of the Sun, 2010 Ham radio/communications center
238
Library of the Sun, 2010 Ham radio/communications center
239
Library of the Sun, 2010 messages to and from Carusi
240
Library of the Sun, 2010 living quarters, gallery, portholes and stained glass window
241
Debora Coombs Stained Glass for an Astronaut, 2010 [based on a collage by Michael Oatman] stained glass 19.5 x 39.25 inches 242
This Is Not Donald Carusi photomontage, portrait of the artist
243
244
Michael Oatman (Another Fine Mess)
Exhibition Installation
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
Artist’s Statement
Charles Wilson Peale The Staircase Group, 1795
300
Marcel Duchamp Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912
Another Fine Mess Michael Oatman
In this, the hundredth anniversary of the Armory Show, and the 101st celebration of the birth of collage, I feel compelled to revise my current artist’s statement to reflect these dates of significance. When I think that I have been making collages (1983-2013; 30 years!) for more than a quarter of that history, I am humbled by the long association and humored by how little time that actually is, in the larger picture of human cultural production. Collage is in its toddler years at best. When I entered RISD as a freshman, I wanted to be a graphic designer. That in itself seems like a choice that would have ensured an eclectic, if not specifically “collage-like,” professional career. After all, every day would have brought new clients, new assignments—a kind of “exquisite corpse” resume. And then, I took my first art history course. For one year at RISD, the usual ‘Art 101 Janson-based mega-lecture’ was taught in a different way. We did the chronology, from Lascaux to ancient Greece and Rome, from the Renaissance to Impressionism, but with a twist: parallel to these images we also read texts concurrent with these periods (excerpts from The Iliad, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Canterbury Tales, The Great Gatsby). In addition, where applicable, we also listened to the music of these eras. It was immersive, mind expanding, epic. Suddenly, I wanted to be a painter. I did not want ‘assignments’ from clients. I wanted to be the client. I wanted to make pictures, not ads.
As a painter, I had difficulty finding my way. All of my peers were developing methods of working that were personal, highly specific. They had style. They had tidy content. One could walk into each of their studios and know whose work it was. In my studio, it looked like six guys were sharing the space. There were paintings, and collages, and sculptures. There were one-offs and series of works. My attention span was tiny and I was greatly relieved when I discovered the work of Max Ernst, one of the 20th century’s great polymaths. He seemed all over the place. Well, I was no great thinker, but I recognized in him a restlessness that seemed productive somehow. I began to relax a little about my various interests which seemed then—as now—to be, well, everything. I began to make collages that were sources for paintings. Making a tiny image and scaling it up seemed like such a smart process. James Rosenquist does it (another great painter who is really a collage artist). But unlike his works, my paintings were never nearly as good as the collages I enlarged. Around this same time, other students at RISD told me that there was someone I had to meet. Todd Bartel had a one-man cottage industry (really, the amount of work was breathtaking) on the third or fourth floor of College Hall, and indeed his work was eerily similar to mine, only better. Todd was the first student artist I had met who was not making student work: he was making art. And he was producing at a speed and depth that I have rarely seen since, with the exception of the British artist Tom Phillips— and, of course, my earlier inspiration, Max Ernst. Ernst’s collages moved me—more than anyone else’s work. I also discovered Duchamp around 301
this time, and that was when the world really opened up. I had a great living guide to the work in the form of a first-year teacher who would become my mentor, and even my best man when I got married. His name was Alfred DeCredico, and he held open the door for me to see what was in the world. It was a messy, dark, endless closet of ideas, material, narratives, abstractions and possibilities. I made a collage about Alfred. It is in this show, and is titled The Hero. To my mind it is a companion piece to Charles Wilson Peale’s Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale [1795, oil on canvas]), one of my favorite paintings. In it, the artist’s sons lead the viewer into a door up a staircase—into the dark. The painting has a rather remarkable physical addition: a wooden step completes the bottom edge of the frame as it meets the painting. The viewer can ‘walk into’ the image. The fact that this painting resides in the same collection (The Philadelphia Museum of Art) that houses Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912, oil on canvas) delights me to no end. So when, in graduate school, I made the decision to abandon painting for installation, video and the occasional collage, it was a heartbreaking but necessary move. I had begun to show with more frequency and was dismayed by that aspect of the “group show” that meant a loss of control of the context. Someone’s work was to the left of me; another person’s to the right. That simple progression ‘framed’ my idea, and I wanted more oversight into how my work would be seen. Even though my studio was a mess, even though my output was schizophrenic, it was MY mess; they were MY manias. 302
Gradually, like Picasso’s first act of adding some rope and wallpaper to a painting, I began to take things from the real world—objects, found images—and bulk out the territory of my paintings. Before, I was hanging my pictures on a blank wall. Now I was mapping out the territory, creating boundaries. Hand-screened wallpaper went behind the paintings. Then a decorative border was added. A table with a real light on it and a magazine that made an ‘extra-conceptual’ link to the imagery in the painting created a context that gave me greater control, an expanded field. Since that time— which I date to early 1991—I have produced over 25 large-scale installations, or “maximum collages” as I have come to title them. Other neologisms, such as “still films” and “unvironments,” have been useful for developing this work, but in the end they are three and four-dimensional collages. Since about 2004, I have short-handed my practice as “the poetic interpretation of documents.” While it is true that my installations often begin with research, the gathering of materials, interviews, and a lot of stumbling around, I now have an investigative process that is very organized. But making these large-scale works, however interesting, is not sustainable, and I needed other ways to make works that were as engaging in terms of the research, but physically less drastic than setting up 5,000 square feet of installation. In the winter of 2000 I received a fellowship to be a resident at Yaddo, the oldest artists’ colony in the United States, located in Saratoga Springs NY. I retreated to this creative paradise with none of my installation tools or materials, taking only an X-Acto knife, a box of no. 11 blades, a cutting mat, some glue and some paper. I found my collage sources in nearby
bookstores and at yard sales, and began to make collages that were not for anything else. That is, they were not studies for paintings; they were not placeholders. They were standalone works, and most significantly, they began to get bigger. Ever interested in hybridizing terms (when I was a painter, I “constructed” my images; as a video artist I animate objects by “surgically implanting” videos into them), I now make “2-Dimensional Installations,” as opposed to collages. At least that is my label for these collages when they increase in scale—both in terms of area and the depth of research—and the length of time it takes to produce them. You may notice that I have not mentioned the content of my work. And this is perhaps my only statement where I have not. Let me just say that however many areas of research and speculation that I may have (and there are many), I consider myself, in the end, to be a collage artist, operating with those many and expanding sensibilities. I may be a project-based conceptual artist, but in the end, the joy of bringing disparate, oppositional, contradictory and estranged parts together to form a mysterious whole is what most motivates me.
and performative. The final result is always more complex than I imagined. Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks,
Pablo. Georges. Max. Marcel. Joseph. Hannah. Alfred. Bob. James. Claes. Jess. Tony. Jane. Tom. Jack. Alfred.
And thanks, Todd.+
+(Picasso, Braque, Ernst, Duchamp, Cornell, Hoch, Hitchcock, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Oldenburg, Collins, Berlant, Hammond, Phillips, Massey, DeCredico, Bartel)
Another Fine Mess is the tile of the exhibition presented at the Thompson Gallery, but it is also the tile of a specific new work, a kind of catch basin of some of the thousands of small notes and drawings that come ahead of the assembly of any of the collages and installations. The collection of materials is experience. The subjects of these investigations are ever expanding. The act of assembling is gestural 303
304
Artist’s Biography
Michael Oatman was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1964, and received his BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1986. His installations integrate thousands of found, modified and handmade components, including artifacts of material culture, paintings, drawings, videos, sounds, foods, and objects at the scale of architecture. These ‘unvironments’ have been installed at museums, public spaces, and private homes. His collages, also realized on a large scale, typically contain vast numbers of hand-cut images culled from discarded and unloved books—children’s encyclopedias, scientific texts, and product and armament catalogs. His father, a carpenter, makes the frames. His rigorously researched subjects include genetics and eugenics, capital punishment and prisons, the history of knowledge, and the exploration of space. Often using large amounts of material from archives, libraries, flea markets, garage sales, abandoned stores, and the collections of private individuals, he refers to his practice as ‘the poetic interpretation of documents.’ He has also written about art and has curated several important exhibitions, most notably Factory Direct, a new version of which was mounted by the Andy Warhol Museum in 2012. Similarly to the Situationists’ notion of the dérive, Oatman’s works often begin with an aimless foray into psychogeographic terrains, on foot, in a car, or occasionally in dreams. In order to perform his research he has posed as a salesman, pollster and journalist; sometimes this playacting gives way to legitimately operating as a private detective, technician or personal assistant. In addition to his studio and post-studio practices, Oatman teaches first-year and thesis in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, NY. His Extreme Drawing course—as well as seminars on 306
Duchamp and Hitchcock—are popular, even with students from non-art disciplines. He has also taught at Harvard, The University of Vermont, SUNY Albany, St. Michael’s College and Vermont College. He has been a visiting critic at RISD since 1986. Oatman’s installations are ‘context-specific’, and demand from him a total immersion into physical location, sonic/haptic realms, local history, and the personal stories of those he encounters in the process of making a work. He welcomes collaboration, and since 2004 he has worked with gifted students under the name of Falling Anvil Studios. Privileged to study with post-studio conceptualists Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, he has also studied with Ana Mendieta, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Edward Mayer, Jim Dine—and his RISD mentor, Alfred DeCredico. Oatman has shown his work extensively in the US and abroad. Recent projects include All Utopias Fell, a permanent commission for MASS MoCA, which opened in October 2010; a recent book for graphic design firm id 29; and a long-term outdoor video environment. He is represented by Ellen Miller in Boston, MA, Lenore Grey in Providence, RI, the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, NV, and the Mayson Gallery in New York, NY.
307