Brian Zenk collage art statement
Symbols, music and motion. What meaning do they play into our eyes, and what do they mean to each of us ? I work in paper, freeing images with scissors, assembling them into 3D collages. constructions present accidental archetypes. I collage, I enjoy new realities out of the juxtapositions of elements. Discarded and reclaimed materials create interesting results. In my working life I maintain machinery and machines and work with building control systems. They're meditative or humorous, busy visual communities, toy box-treasure-chests, I've learned enough about devices that I'm always curious about their possible fine art uses. My web based collage blends music, visually animated, closed systems of dream imagery. and computer science into interactive open suprise environments. I think of them as motion or light-activated friends. Along with found objects, the controls I've used in industry light-, heat- and sound-activated sensors; timers, relays, "smart" devices I now build into strangely endearing constructions. "He who dies with the most toys -- still dies."
I collage, I enjoy new realities out of the juxtapositions of elements. Discarded and reclaimed materials create interesting results. In my working life I maintain machinery and machines and work with building control systems. They're meditative or humorous, busy visual communities, toy box-treasure-chests, I've learned enough about devices that I'm always curious about their possible fine art uses. My web based collage blends music, visually animated, closed systems of dream imagery. and computer science into interactive open suprise environments. I think of them as motion or light-activated friends. Along with found objects, the controls I've used in industry light-, heat- and sound-activated sensors; timers, relays, "smart" devices I now build into strangely endearing constructions. "He who dies with the most toys -- still dies."
They're meditative or humorous, busy visual communities, toy box-treasure-chests, I've learned enough about devices that I'm always curious about their possible fine art uses. My web based collage blends music, visually animated, closed systems of dream imagery. and computer science into interactive open suprise environments. I think of them as motion or light-activated friends. Along with found objects, the controls I've used in industry light-, heat- and sound-activated sensors; timers, relays, "smart" devices I now build into strangely endearing constructions. "He who dies with the most toys -- still dies."
Faces for Life ---- Puget Sound Blood Center ---- My Art Mask Donations
The Rite of Spring This face borrows traditional Northwest coastal native colors and Maori moko facial tattoo. The chin moko signified power, standing and availability among Maori women. The war and fertility symbols combined with natural elements recall themes of the ballet "Le Sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring), the work of Igor Stravinsky and Vaslaw Nijinsky. "
This mask simply borrows from Northwest Coast art, the most elegant in the world. That gorgeous tradition can't be improved upon, so I keep going back to it. As Thanksgiving approached I thought of the Arctic and Northwest people's relationships with the animal world; how they thanked each animal who supplied them with the means to survive, and honored its spirit in the things they made. I imagined a Yup'ik parka, using textile fur, graphite, fabric dye, enamel and wood.
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