Bar

1989-1990
Photocopy, dot matrix print, calico and acrylic paint
56 x 41 centimeters

Bar is the first collage in this series and the method of its production became the template for the subsequent collages in this series. The base layer is comprised of a photocopied still image frame taken from a television movie, a subsequent layer of objects drawn with a paint programme on an early model Macintosh computer was printed using a dot matrix printer and superimposed over the base. The composition was then filled out with black and white paint to suggest highlights and shadows and cross hatching was added using calico and paper strips. This process intentionally tested the legibility of the image, thus making the viewer work hard to decode what they were looking at, a feature which defined the work that followed.

The theme of drinkers came from the image this collage is based on and it chimed with my lifestyle and that of my artist colleagues who were regular drinkers at inner city pubs and clubs.

The background of the Figures in a Landscape collages