Driskel Photography

THE DRISKEL GALLERY
AT
THE SCHOOLHOUSE CENTER

presents

ELLIOTT HUNDLEY

PHOTOGRAPHS AND COLLAGES
APRIL 26 - MAY 22, 2002


OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 6-8 P.M.

 

Artist’s statement of Intent: In Bali, kaja means upstream, or towards the mountain, kelod downstream, or towards the sea. I learned from a friend who was working there with Balinese puppeteers that, for good luck, all people in Bali sleep with heads kaja, feet kelod to the sea demons. If you could see through rooftops, from far above, I imagine you could see a spectacular pattern, the great flower of sleepers circling the volcanic mountain then you could come down close, to one family, one life, and one face with a story. This, on a much humbler scale, is what I aspire to do with the images I make. There are two ways to view my work- one can step up to a piece on the wall and see hundreds of distinct shapes, each with a story-then one can step back and those clipped elements lose themselves
in a larger image.

In 1997, I began to photograph miniature constructed dioramas that included
small cutout photographs I took of people in unusual, but specific poses. These dioramas were inspired by the frescoes I saw at the villa of Mysteries in Pompeii, in which 28 figures are depicted in scenes involving the myth of Dionysius. Over
time, I removed these cutout figures from the stage of the dioramas and used them directly as the materials for collage. The cutout figures and other elements are no longer fixed to paper with glue, as the first ones I made were, but are pinned to foam with straight pins. I intend for the viewer to be aware that the elements, without too much difficulty, could be rearranged. the pins underscore how the relations between the diverse elements are open to interpretation, how these relations themselves are contingent on the element’s arrangement.

I’ll put anything into a collage, as long as I can cut it into a shape I like and as long as I can stick a pin through it- illustrations of fireworks from movie theater popcorn bags, illustrations from children’s encyclopedias, embroidery thread, brown sequins, wrapping paper, and the photographs of myself and others in particular poses. I intend for my collages to generate energy as the many elements collide, join, separate, and mingle in each viewer’s mind. All that activity is placed in an elastic tension with the complete image as seen from a distance.

The collages that I am currently working on at the Fine Arts Work Center are
more sculptural in format- the elements are pinned to each other rather than to a given background or support. By eliminating the foamboard, I feel like I am a
magician, pulling the support out from between the elements and the wall, leaving the image precariously intact and suspended in space.

These are my influences: the playful narrative collages of Max Ernst, the surreal
imagery of film-makers Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa and photographer Gregory Crewdson, the sense of scale employed in the paintings of Hieronymus
Bosch, Fred Thomaselli, and Chris Ofili, the lyrical color and compositions of
Romare Bearden and Henri Matisse, Tibetan meditation paintings, Hindu relief sculptures, North Carolina crazy quilts, Fra Angelico, and the Villa of Mysteries.

The Schoolhouse Center is located at 494 Commercial Friday - Monday from 11 and always by appointment. For more information please call David Carrino at (508) 487.4800.