Select Collages 1983 - 1989 Todd Bartel

© 2012 Todd Bartel

Todd Bartel retains sole copyright to his contributions to this book.

This book was assembled to accompany the Hey Joe exhibition, curated by David Powell, June 13-July 29, 2012, at the BigTown Gallery, Rochester, VT. It is the first book in a series of books to examine each separate body of work the artist developed since he claimed collage as his vocation.

Virtually none of the work included in this book was available to be digitally photographed. Thanks to contemporary technology, this book was made possible by scanning the Ektachrome slides the artist took of his work at the time the work was created. The graininess of the scans is to be expected.

The author is grateful for Susan Hamin’s editorial assistance.

Thank you Hardu Keck, Alfred DeCredico, Jack Massey and Stuart Diamond. In your own way, you each showed me the importance of learning how to see. --TB

Select Collages 1983 - 1989 Todd Bartel

Select Collages 1983 - 1989

Early Works I was first exposed to collage through a surrealism assignment while taking Hardu Keck’s two-dimensional design course at the Rhode Island School of Design. Those seeds were sown during my freshman year, in the fall of 1981, and they would prove to be important for me throughout my career as a dedicated collage artist. My eyes were opened in another way as I learned about risk-taking and the power of abstraction in Alfred DeCredico’s twodimensional design class the following spring. Many of his assignments had a collage component—the standard joke among my peers when describing Alfred’s classes was “paint it black and cut it up”—but emphasis was always on the importance of seeing. And of course, much of what I learned and experienced in those classes would enter my own pedagogy years later. At the end of my freshman year, Alfred took his class to visit his studio. That day—the day I saw Alfred’s work hanging on the walls of his glorious, top-floor loft—I fell in love with collage in a conscious way. Standing right in front of one of his pieces, I knew collage was my home. I should have respected my feelings then, but I did not. In fact, I denied myself the pleasure of making collages for more than a year after that visit to my professor’s home. I was afraid of being accused of copying another’s art. I did not yet know that copying is just one of collage’s repertoire of endless possibilities. And so, I held back until my junior year. What a mistake that was. It wasn’t until Stuart Diamond challenged me in his class—because he knew I wasn’t creating anything remotely personal—to “make something you want to look at.” With that in mind, I allowed myself to play with composite imagery for the fist time in an overtly conscious way, but, with a lot of reservation. Begrudgingly, I made my first true collage—pictured page 9—and I brought it in, expecting to hear all the complaints. “Look who’s recording DeCredico now!” But to my astonishment, neither Stuart, nor my peers chastised me. As soon he came into class for critique the next day, Stuart made a bee-line toward my piece. He looked at it for a good while and then at me. And he must have detected my guarded apprehension, because as he spoke to me he lit up with a satisfied grin on his face: “Well, you finally did it. You gave yourself a gift!” I couldn’t believe it. And I said something like, “You mean it’s okay?” Stuart started laughing and said, “It’s great! And look, you’re working!”

Those words propelled me like nothing before, setting me in motion to produce my first real body of work—a select group of which is included in this edition. I worked feverishly, every chance I could, and it seemed that with each collage I learned or did something new. I began to play and experiment with materials, and importantly, I began to study nature, decay and contrast. I worked intuitively, trying to see into the flotsam and jetsam I collected; I was only motivated by the sparks that would come from the contact of two unrelated things that when juxtaposed or superimposed somehow gave new meaning to each other. Transformation was the thing wherein I could catch my conscience regarding whatever I used. And then, right at the peak of my new found romance—only a little more than a month after I created that first piece—I received the telegram telling me of the tragic murder of my mother, who was strangled in a hotel room in Seoul, Korea on November 19, 1983. Theresa Bartel (49) was there, overseeing the production of her plush and plastic toy designs—the NFL mascots—that are still in production today. The mystery of her death was never solved. Needless to say, the pain and melancholy of loss would permeate my work for more than a decade, but I had fortunately already found my voice and the vehicle to express it. While in Rome, I actively embraced my loss and made work about it. I worked to transform the heinous and ugly events in my life visually and poetically, and I found solace in filtering the Italian culture through my longing. I worked with a combination of loss, mystery and intuition until the eve of going to graduate school, when and where my work shifted toward a more conceptual approach. And in the fall of 1989, I decided to stop making intuitive-based collage. This book was created to offer a glimpse into that important time for me as an emerging artist. But even though I championed other expressive skills at that next juncture, the lessons of my early experience with collage proliferate my every action, even to the present day.

Todd Bartel, June 20, 2012

Premonition of Loss, 1983 Carbon paper, pressed rose and leaf, book cutouts, aged magazine page and map cutouts on book binding board from Milton’s Paradise Lost with remnant leather covering, 13.25 x 19 inches

Untitled Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1983 Carbon copy transfer, pencil, Elmer’s glue, book cutouts, aged magazine page, pressed leaves and paint chips on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Turning Out Guard, 1984 Gouache, pencil, pressed leaves, aged magazine page, Elmer’s glue and book cutouts on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

View from Apollo 8, 1984 Aged magazine page, cutout book engravings, pencil, enamel, marbleized paper and Elmer’s glue on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Reincarnating the Inanimate, 1984 Aged magazine page, book cutouts, Victorian card, pencil, enamel, pressed leaves, flower pistils and Elmer’s glue on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

L’ Annunziazione (The Annunciation), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Book cutouts, marbled paper, pencil, gouache, enamel and burlap on book board with leather, 6 x 6 inches

Una Nascita Classica (A Classical Birth), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book engravings, marbled paper, watercolor and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Il Riconoscimento di un Uomo Sconosciuto I (Recognition of an Unknown Man I), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, aged magazine page, gouache, watercolor and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Il Riconoscimento di un Uomo Sconosciuto II (Recognition of an Unknown Man II), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Cutout bookplates, magazine cutout, gouache, watercolor, gold leaf and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Lei Sognera Per Sempere I (She Will Dream for Ever I), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, glue wash, watercolor, wax, gold leaf, and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 13.75 x 17.75 inches

Lei Sognera Per Sempere II (She Will Dream for Ever II), 1984 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, glue wash, watercolor, Odd Fellows Union yearbook cutouts, wax, gouache and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 13.75 x 17.75 inches

Lei Sognera Per Sempere III (She Will Dream for Ever III), 1985 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, glue wash, aged magazine page, watercolor, Odd Fellows Union yearbook cutouts, wax, gouache and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 13.75 x 17.75 inches

Lei Sognera Per Sempere IV (She Will Dream for Ever IV), 1985 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, glue wash, aged magazine page, watercolor, Odd Fellows Union yearbook cutouts, manipulated carbon paper, gold leaf, wax, gouache and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Acque dalle Acque (Waters from the Waters), 1985 (Rome, Italy) Cutout book plates, aged magazine page remnant, glue wash, gouache, watercolor, pressed flower, Italian letter remnant (c. 1880) and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 13.75 x 17.75 inches

Moving Field Stones (for Jack Massey), 1985 Carbon paper transfer, gouache, pencil, Presstype, Italian letter remnant (c. 1880), book cutouts, tin type, photo corners and snake skin on an end page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Worm Wood, 1985 Cutout book plate, reverse side of book plate, marbleized paper, wax, Italian letter remnant (c. 1880), rose petal, gouache, Elmer’s glue and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

The Meeting Place, 1985 Book end pages, gouache, moose mane, sealing wax, cutout engraving, marbleized paper, gelatin silver print transfer, Elmer’s glue, wax, and pencil on page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 13.25 x 15 inches

Nocturne No. II (Ascent of the Harvest Moon), 1986 Carbon paper transfer, cutout engravings, pencil, Elmer’s glue and book cutouts on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Nocturne No. III (Hibernation of a Dream), 1986 Carbon paper transfer, engraving cutouts, marbled paper, pencil, Elmer’s glue and book cutouts on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Nocturne No. V (Firmamental Separation), 1986 Carbon paper transfer, cutout engraving, pencil, Elmer’s glue and book cutout on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Nocturne No. VI (Pandora’s Box), 1986 Carbon paper transfer, pencil, Elmer’s glue and book cutouts on Odd Fellows Union yearbook page (c. 1930), 11.5 x 13.5 inches

Treading Water, 1986 Cutout book plates, reverse side of wall paper remnant, gouache, watercolor, sealing wax, three-ring binder protectors, cat whiskers and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 14 x 17.75 inches

Scissions, 1986 Cutout book plates, reverse side of book plates, marbled paper, gold leaf, aged magazine page, gouache, water color, pressed leaves, antique photo c. 1900, string and pencil on Italian letter (c. 1880), 21 x 16.75 inches

Meteor Thresher, 1987 Cutout bookplates, moose mane, sealing wax, marbled paper, aged magazine page, gouache, pressed flower petal, water color and pencil on Italian letter (c.1880), 21 x 16.75 inches

Divine Consequence, 1987 Carbon paper transfer, pressed flower petals, eucalyptus, string, sealing wax, cutout book plates and book end-pages on Italian letter (c.1880), mounted on book plate, 21 x 16.75 inches

Trilogy of Falls, 1987 Aged magazine page, pressed flower petals, string, sealing wax, cutout book plates, binding remnants, wooden Venetian blind, marble paper, gouache and pencil on Italian letter (c.1880), mounted on book plate, 21 x 16.75 inches

Lure for Consciousness, 1987 Pressed flower petals, marbleized paper, sealing wax, book plates, book binding cloth, water color, acrylic and gouache on Italian letter (c.1880), mounted on book plate, 21 x 16.75 inches

Gravity Ring, 1987 Cutout book plates, wax, marbleized paper, binder cloth and paper, book end-page, Elmer’s glue, gouache, string, cat whiskers and pencil on back of page from a Florentine book (Book of Kings c. 1900), 17.75 x 13.75 inches

Alfred Watching a Fellini Flick, 1987 LP album sleeve, duct tape, cutout book engravings, sealing wax, gouache, wooden Venetian blind, pressed orchid, map of Italy, charcoal, various papers, ball bearing on Italian document (c. 1880), mounted on Arches, mounted on Masonite, 24.5 x 18 inches

Cypress, 1987 Cutout book engraving, enameled fence wire, clay marbles, gouache, sealing wax, moose mane, wood, clay marbles (c. 1880), string and pencil on manila envelopes, over Italian document (c. 1880) map and thrice-painted boat canvas, mounted on Arches, mounted on Masonite in constructed wood frame, 24.5 x 18 inches

Medusa’s Statues, 1989 Cutout book plates, linoleum, gouache, moose mane, plastered-wall wood, and pencil on manila envelopes, over Italian document (c. 1880) over thrice-painted boat canvas, mounted on Arches, mounted on Masonite in constructed wood frame, 24.5 x 35.75 inches

TODD BARTEL b. 1962 Manitowoc, Wisconsin EDUCATION 1993 Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, MFA, Painting 1985 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, BFA, Painting

SELECT AWARDS / HONORS 2000 Connecticut Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant, Hartford, CT 1990 Jacob K. Javits Fellow, tuition grant with stipend in support of MFA degree, U.S. Dept. of Education, Washington, DC Liquitex Art Materials Award, Easton, PA 1984 European Honors Program, Rhode Island School of Design, Rome, Italy (Sept. to May)

2003 2002 2001 1991 1990 1989 1985 SELECT ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS Implications of Glue: Todd Bartel Collage Based Work 1983–2003, Brownson Gallery, Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY Mythology of Stasis: New and Recent work by Todd Bartel, Miranda Fine Arts, Port Chester, NY Gardens, Landviews, Salvages, Gallery 221, List Art Center, Brown University, Providence RI Todd Bartel: Master of Fine Arts, Thesis Exhibition, Hewlett Gallery, College of Fine Arts, CMU, Pittsburgh, PA Todd Bartel, Reynolds Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA Todd Bartel Selected Work, Juliani Gallery, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Wellesley, MA Sentire (Thesis Exhibition), Cantina, Palazzo Cenci, RISD, European Honors Program, Rome, Italy,

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 Hey Joe, Big Town Gallery, Rochester, VT 2010 Chemical Reactions, Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY 2007 Breaking New Ground: The Power and Variety of Landscapes, Iona College, Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery 2006 Unless, Miller Block Gallery, Boston, MA 2004 Exposing Scarlet: A Visual response to the Scarlet Letter, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2003 Objects By Joseph Cornell and 13 Other Emerging Artists, ZieherSmith, New York, NY Tag—Recent Work By Todd Bartel and Michael Oatman, Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI 2002 Cabinets of Wonder/Redux, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA Tontine, Hermen Goode Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 1999 Memory Boxes, Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Annville, PA 1995 Water, Earth, Clay, Gallery In The Square, Pittsburgh, PA All of a Piece/All In Pieces, Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY 1994 Exquisite Drawing: Lines of Correspondence, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland 1991 Art Beyond, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA 1989 Common Roots, Diverse Objectives, Brockton Art Museum, Brockton, MA 1986 Emerging Artists, Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI