Last night, I saw the work of "Baby Smith", nom d'art of chuckvideo's paramour Becky. And I was equally impressed by her abstract visions. Becky takes paper products ranging from book pages and covers to wallpaper (correct me if I'm wrong, Becky) and arranges them in beautiful abstract designs that are subtle but cheerful. She uses bright, primary colors in works that make one feel good from the overall psychological effect of the color. But it's more than that. As I said to her last night, I sometimes draw abstractly, so I appreciate that her materials are not simply thrown together on a board or canvas. There is sense, logic, design, and aesthetic harmony there. Everything is arranged to create a cohesive whole, and it works. It is obvious that she really knows what she's doing, and that nothing is random.

Her use of letters and numerals is very sparing--one or two per piece. In one case, a blue letter "S" makes the piece stand out powerfully. It's hard to explain, but the letter becomes more aesthetic than linguistic. By removing letters from their normal context, she reminds us of their shapes and designs.

Another artist on exhibit at the same gallery works at a shop that either makes or fixes skateboards, and creates works from discarded skateboard pieces that would otherwise only be thrown away, adding silkscreen designs. The range of colors and textures from the pieces, and his designs, results in works that look to me like velour pillows!

I was THRILLED last night to view the works by these artists. Why? As I said to Becky and Chuck, this represents to me a giant leap forward in our society's intellectual level. Here we have not only the art that takes "something from nothing", as Becky put it, and creates beauty from garbage in some cases (the ultimate recycling!), but the celebration of that art in a public space! A gallery is celebrating and exhibiting that rearrangement of the mundane into new patterns. This is something that is very new in human history, I cannot but believe. When before have we celebrated the transformation of the old into the new, the beautiful? I equated it to Michelangelo taking new forms out of marble.

It's amazing. You must see it. Treat yourself to a collage exhibit sometime. I'm late to the game, but I love it.

Kudos to the Collagistes!