Tuesday, April 2, 2013

John Diebel: Assassination Drone in Operation Above Non-rationalist Territory







































Assassination Drone in Operation Above Non-rationalist Territory
Cut-paper collage on found image
7.5" x 9.5"
johndiebel.com

John Diebel on Juxtapoz







































John Diebel on juxtapoz.com

I just found this today by chance while doing an online search for press coverage of the upcoming show. It was published in January, but it can't hurt to mention it. Belated thanks to Juxtapoz!

johndiebel.com

Jonas Criscoe: Work In Progress 7






























Untitled- in progress (detail)
36" x 36"
Mixed-media collage 


Monday, March 25, 2013

Friday, March 22, 2013

John Diebel: Eclipse of the State Religion







































Eclipse of the State Religion
Cut-paper collage on found image on wood veneer panel
11.5" x 11.5"
johndiebel.com

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Jonas Criscoe: Work in Progress 4


























Untitled- in progress
Mixed-media collage 


Jonas Criscoe to Speak at the Minnesota Museum of American Art

Thursday, Mar 28, 2013
Collaboration in the Studio
MMAA Project Space | 332 N. Robert Street, 55101
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Join Cole Rogers, master printer and co-founder of Highpoint Center for Printmaking and Brian Hartley Sago a Highpoint Artist Co-op member in conversation with D.I.Y. printers Jonas Criscoe andCaitlin Warner, plus special guest about what it means for artistic practice to be collaborative and cooperative. Reception to follow.

>> More information here.

John Diebel: Onbetaalbaar (Unaffordable)







































Onbetaalbaar (Unaffordable)
Cut-paper collage on vintage paper
7.5" x 9.5"
johndiebel.com

Saturday, March 16, 2013

John Diebel: Reconnaissance Drone Malevich Ma-9 Acquiring Target
































Reconnaissance Drone Malevich Ma-9 Acquiring Target
Cut-paper collage on found image
11.5" x 11.5"
johndiebel.com

John Diebel: Artist Statement



On Reconstructed Space

This body of work imagines alternate histories; worlds in which the idealism of such early 20th Century art movements as Suprematism, Constructivism, and De Stijl have been implemented as the complete cultural revolutions that their manifestoes demanded. What happens to revolutionary zeal and the fervent desire to forge a New Humanity over the course of decades and in the face of seemingly immutable human nature? The specter of the Soviet Union’s doomed experiment in compromised ideals helps to inform these dystopian visions. Here we find Imperial cities on the verge of decline, dominated by geometric edifices in primary colors, and over-flown by menacing architectonic drones. Worlds very different from those exhorted by artistic doctrine, but also not unlike our own world today.
General Statement
Through a technique of highly structured, accurately cut paper collage I seek to evoke architectural spaces which exert ideological power over their surrounding environments. Sometimes the ideological symbols are drawn from familiar past human history, other times from future or imagined histories. I have long been fascinated with representational architecture and the ends that it serves; particularly when those ends have been obscured by the passage of time.
“Paper architecture” and architectural modeling serve as guides to my technique. Some of the greatest artistry I’ve seen has been in the form of drawings and sculptures of un-built or un-buildable structures. My own frustrated inner architect is nominally appeased by the labor-intensive practice I have developed.  Following a free-ranging process of drawing and experimentation, the construction of each image is done in a methodical manner. Emphasis is put on accuracy of cutting and the construction of a smooth surface for each shape. The result is an optical illusion: a 2-dimensional image with a layered surface that projects out from the background through multiple layers of cardstock and paper. A convincing 3-dimensional space emerges from this illusion, even when a false axonometric perspective reminiscent of early video games is used.

Jonas Criscoe: Work in Progress 2




























Untitled- in progress
24” x 48” x 12”
Mixed Media on Constructed Panel

Jonas Criscoe online gallery

Friday, March 15, 2013

John Diebel: Prounhaus































Prounhaus
Cut-paper collage on vintage paper
7.5" x 9.5"
johndiebel.com

Jonas Criscoe: Artist Statement

My work explores the way in which environments and landscapes are altered by our society, and nature's ability to reclaim the spaces and the things that we abandon. A number of the works in this series were created using various found materials and imagery collected during way finding walks and drives. They are on one hand a conversation between old-time quilt making and modernist geometric abstraction while on the other a means of exploring the patina of wear and exposure on materials and surfaces.

Some of the patterns that I have chosen to utilize (most directly the block patterning) are traditional quilting designs that can be found in turn of the century quilts. The idea of using bits of discarded material to create elaborate compositions and how uniform shapes can be combined to generate a larger more elaborate form intrigues me. In a way, this is how we experience the world as we go about our daily lives. As we drive down the road, watch television, surf the net or text on our phones. The signs and information we're bombarded with, the people we come in contact with, the bits of conversations that we tune in and out of.  After a while no one detail can be isolated amongst the cacophony of images and information, everything seems to blend together and become one continuous grid like blur.

The graffiti that I use in my work are tags that I have collected from past places that I have lived (Austin, New York, Seattle, Barcelona, etc.). I use them to express the idea of the individual voice amongst the cacophony of mass produced imagery and objects that surrounds us all. The worn surfaces that are characteristic of my work are an attempt to give them an "aura" of touch. As an artist and a maker one of the things that I admire most about graffiti is the patina that tagged surfaces acquire and the forum that these surfaces become in facilitating social interaction, dialogue and expression. When a surface has been reclaimed, scrawled over with tags, posted over, painted, re-painted, pissed on, scratched all to hell and left to the elements to fall apart and rot this is when that surface truly attains a history to it, an "Aura" of touch. It becomes a true physical embodiment of the countless hands that have collectivity formed it into being. Standing not only as an artifact of the community from which it came but also as a surrogate for the action that created it.

Jonas Criscoe online gallery

John Diebel: Interportal (Work in progress)


























Interportal (Work in progress)
Cut-paper collage on found image
10.5" x 16.5"

Jonas Criscoe: Work in Progress 1




















Untitled- in progress
24” x 36” x 4”
Mixed Media on Constructed Panel

Jonas Criscoe online gallery

John Diebel: Battle Drone ‘Ilya Chashnik SG-06’ is Deployed






























Battle Drone 'Ilya Chashnik SG-06' is Deployed
Cut-paper collage on found image on wood veneer
9.5" x 12.75"
johndiebel.com

Jonas Criscoe: Kudzu Jungle
























Kudzu Jungle
24” x 36” x 12”
Mixed Media on Constructed Panel

Jonas Criscoe online gallery