It is tempting to glance for a story, a theme or a concept in the colorful collages of N. Penney Denning. That is a futile physical exercise.
Her small is effective produced with recycled, cutout media images are filled with incongruous objects — fish, vegetation, fruits, snack food items, lizards, armchairs and a recurring small white puppy. The level is the attractiveness and attraction of impression, shade and composition that do the job very well together, not any overriding narrative.
“Collage: The Art of Recycling,” an exhibit of 57 will work by Denning, is on look at by June 2 at the Dublin Arts Council. Denning, 81, who has two very first names — Nan and Penney — lives and maintains a studio in Upper Arlington.
A graduate of Cornell University in New York with a Master of Fine Arts in portray from Ohio Point out College, she previously included collage in her paintings and, for the earlier 12 yrs, has labored completely in the medium of collage.
The performs in the show — all 8 by 6 inches and titled by amount — are hung at eye degree. The juxtaposition of unlikely photographs, some distorted perspectives and jaunty colours results in a quirky environment not with out humor and irony.
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“Still Existence #525” has a massive artichoke dominating a bowl of pink bouquets and two dolphins. In “Still Lifetime #613” a goat and a pig stand on a blue cabinet with a speckled pitcher and crops in the foreground. A big stack of pancakes dripping with butter and syrup stars in “Still Life #592” with a smaller peanut and a blue chair with a banana on it as co-stars.
Various of the items have clippings from the Ohio State University newspaper, The Lantern, and a single has clippings about the Spanish influenza of the early 20th century paired with fashionable photos, which include an plane and an Oreo cookie. This may be the closest Denning will come to sending viewers a information — connecting the Spanish flu to contemporary periods and COVID19.
In developing her functions, Denning mentioned she spends a good deal of time poring around journals, newspapers and other media, cutting out photographs she finds appealing and attractive.
“When I begin a new piece, I search above the pictures and a single will seize my focus and that will be my centerpiece,” she mentioned. “I decide on a track record, a shade or a pattern, and then I go hunting for other things to go with that to start with graphic and that ‘go with’ is extremely wide.
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“There’s no narrative meaning whilst usually, soon after I’ve accomplished a piece, I will discover interactions.”
Employing recycled shots is a nod to a concern for the ecosystem, she said, but is a lot more about wanting to use lovely visuals that are there for the using.
“We have all these wonderful photographs that we see in publications, and we just don’t notice them,” Denning reported. “That very little white canine, you come across him in pet food stuff advertisements and all kinds of items. He will have to make a bundle of dollars due to the fact he’s in all places.”
“Collage: The Art of Recycling” introduces an artist in like with shapes, colors and visuals. Denning’s quirky collages can make a viewer appreciate the charm of person objects and how the seeming randomness with which they are place alongside one another can final result in an pleasurable art encounter.
At a look
“Collage: The Artwork of Recycling” carries on by way of June 2 at the Dublin Arts Council, 7125 Riverside Push, Dublin. The gallery is open up by appointment from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the next Saturday of the thirty day period. To agenda an appointment, call 614-889-7444 or stop by dublinarts.org.