ITERATIONS
Barbara Page / artist statement
This series explores repeated alterations of advertisements, extracted from old issues of ArtForum, in order to subvert their orientation and identity. This art publication has the heft and style of Vogue. Both magazines are short on substance and long on eye candy. My interventions begin with removing glitzy ads generally featuring artwork that has been subjected to a photographer’s edits and a designer’s text overlays. I cut, tear, collage, photograph and digitally alter the remnants of the ads to erase their original commercial context and create new associations. With attention one might possibly be able to discern who is keeping company with whom in this new order, although most of the artists have long since faded into obscurity. The driving factor in creating the collages was the story I told myself while manipulating their compositional elements. That chatter has vanished like a dream and here is what remains.
Conundrum, limited edition digital print of unique collage, 14” x 13” (framed size), 2021
2022 Interview with Barbara Page, discussing the ITERATIONS exhibit:
CG - I see a similar artistic and conceptual style between both the Book Marks project and the ArtForum project. Do you consciously think about your art as a form of social commentary?
BP - Some of my art is generated primarily by formal considerations but there is a significant proportion that has an educational, historical, or social theme that drives an explicit narrative. In Book Marks: An Artist's Card Catalog, my illustrated reading history provided the framework. The ArtForum project is much more subtle since I began with the intent of poking fun at the excesses of commercialism but the resulting images usually tell another story.
CG - What is the process in choosing which ArtForum images to use for the works in your exhibition titled ITERATIONS?
BP - All of the images had to be ads. Often I chose pages purely for their color or textures. I ripped out any image that appealed to me without a preconceived notion of how I might incorporate it into a collage. Usually I began the collage with a randomly chosen background and built it up bit by bit from the collected papers in the hope that something would cut the mustard. I had no hesitation about deconstructing and reassembling the parts. The final product has a completely different flavor than the original ad.
CG - What are the dates of publication from which you've taken the magazine images? Do you have many issues of ArtForum and, if so, can you see a difference in style from year to year? How did this come into play within your work?
BP - I started this project because I wanted to get rid of my issues of ArtForum. I had a subscription for only a year---maybe around 2005---but would pick up earlier ones at the library sale. My impression is that the older magazines had more full page ads. In looking though recent issues, not much attracted my attention, and I didn't purchase them. What is striking is that so many artists had a brief moment in the sun and are long forgotten. I have none of these magazines left but still lots of saved ads set aside for future collages.
CG -Tell me more about "Conundrum." What is the narrative? Do you consider the works as a form of storytelling?
BP - Very interesting that you should ask about "Conundrum" because I really had difficulty thinking of this title, hence this one seemed appropriate. It is such a wonderful word that I was grateful it finally sprung into my mind. Usually the titles arise rather easily out of the imagery of whatever story I concoct during the creative process. In this case I was thinking that the little girl was looking out on a planet of rising seas and burning forests while an eclipse, often an omen of misfortune, was taking place. But I didn't have the intention of bringing in climate change initially. It just happened. What to do about global warming? A conundrum.
CG - Will you continue this series?
BP - I have quite a few completed collages not presently on display as well as a large pile of unresolved works in progress. None have reached the stage of being photographed, digitally manipulated, and printed.
CG - What do you have planned for future projects?
BP - I have a show of aerial landscapes coming up in April at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. Not much beyond that.
CG - I look forward to seeing your next project!
About Face, 14” x 13” (framed size), limited edition print of unique collage, 2021
14” x 13” (framed size), limited edition print of unique collage, 2021
Barbara Page speaks for The Interview Series, May 4, 2020.
- How did you become an artist?
I always liked to draw but didn't have much formal training. Some years after finishing two years of college, I applied to graduate school at Cornell and was accepted in the MFA program, even without the twelve credits of art history required. It was an ordeal to make up for all my deficits but fortunately one of my professors set a good example of what a career as an artist entailed. After graduating, I spent a couple of years in limbo but was then offered a two year appointment teaching art at Cornell that made it possible for me to carry on.
-Was there a particular piece / body of work / experience that inspired you?
I never expected much of myself - but learning to fly, instead of finishing college, opened my eyes to unimagined possibilities. It gave me a new point of view and the confidence to express it.
-What images or things do you keep in your studio that influence your work?
Maps, discarded materials, a poster of El Anatsui's work, and art books.
- What positive outcome do you hope will occur due to the pandemic experience?
Personally, it has forced me into solitary confinement with a major project to tackle and few distractions. I have just completed what I hope will be the final major text edits on a book forthcoming in the spring of 2021. It is a memoir with a backbone of about 400 library cards illustrated with my recollections of the books they represent and arranged in chronological order of my reading history.
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