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Rob Dunlavey
Under the Influence
posted:
Lately, I've been hauling these big fat coffee table books about Hungarian and Russian Folk Art home from the library and poring over the astonishing and varied crafts of these countries that I know so little about. The items in this small snapshot caught my eye: they are "Gable ornaments for peasant houses" from Moldavia which at the time that the book was published was part of the Soviet Union.
cut paper (approx 14 in. tall)
I got a bee in my bonnet and scrounged up some black paper, folded it and started cutting these things. I love them! They are part of this cut-paper activity that I do from time to time like this: "Halloween Heads".

They are fun, funky totems. Mysterious but not too threatening. Decorative but vaguely significant too. I'd like to see them about 20-40 feet tall in steel in a city plaza somewhere. Maybe a bunch in a forest-like clumping... Graffiti encrusted with couples kissing in the shadows, drunk Red Sox fans climbing on and getting impaled on the sharp points! Yikes! Okay, let's do a fountain instead!
ink, collage, tempera paint
Any artist knows that her scraps are sometimes better than the the intended product. The shackles loosen and the creativity kicks up a notch or two. Same as a kid looking at the clouds in the sky, the leftover black paper got used as stencils for some paintings I'm messing with. I think they're part of this "bird idea" that's banging around inside my skull. We shall see!
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