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The Muse's Storage Box

The Muse's Storage Box
Copyright Diane Lou.

Alchemical Dreams and Disparate Realities

Rust and bones, broken toys and old text, game boards, gears and nests. Even as a child such odd, unwanted items evoked a pit-of-the-stomach response that bordered on exhilaration.
While I make no attempt to conjure up specific feelings in the viewer, the ambiguous juxtapositioning of familiar materials creates art that evokes half-forgotten, dream-like visions that beg to be interpreted by the viewer. There is a sense of deja vu (the already seen) tempered by a sense of jamais vu ( the never seen, or the illusion that the familiar does not seem familiar), and this contradiction asks the viewer to dig deeply, to look inside her own repository of wisdom, intuition and experience to find her own meaning in the familiar objects she sees.
The once-private discards of people's material lives that I collect for my art seem to carry universal memories with them, memories that can engage and mystify the viewer. Their beauty lies within the rust, the erosion, the wear, and the mere fact that they were once possessions.
I play with abandon and with no forethought. Each piece of detritus seems to suggest to me a relationship with some other piece, and I begin to put them together and wait for the mental "buzz" that lets me know I am proceeding as I should. Even at this point, I continue to remain in the play state and will not allow myself to direct the outcome of the piece, a process that requires complete trust. The outcome often mystifies me as much as it might any viewer.
Remember when, as a child, whatever was in reach became the instrument of your creative exploration? That is my life. A rusty, flattened piece of metal on the street, a gnawed bone by the roadside, a unique twisted branch from a tree, a fallen nest, a broken egg, a snake's skin, a dead butterfly...all will be added to my collection and eventually have their beauty honored in one of my pieces. The resulting art creates a new story with its own imagined history, one that invites the viewers to lay some claim on it by allowing themselves to be enveloped by the sight, the history, and the ambiguity of the realities before them.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Huge Garage Sale....

Well, here it is another month gone, and my only excuse is that health issues have been intervening and I haven't had energy to work.  I'm not feeling as good as I was (of course, I have been jaundiced now for nearly 4 weeks...hopefully getting that taken care of this week and regaining some energy).

My dear friend Jennifer in Tigard OR and I are collaborating on a giant studio clean-out sale which should be quite something!  She is a collector/assemblage artist too so it should be an amazingly unique sale.  And it will be huge....

We are having a pre-sale for friends (that includes you) on Friday May 11th from 4-7 or so....and the main sale will be on Saturday May 12th, 8-4.

If you are in the Portland area, stop by.  I can list dozens and dozens of things....piano parts, vintage optical lenses, vintage books, vintage documents, old French documents, croquet and pool balls, bones, tarot cards, lead type, clock parts, rusty stuff, antique photo albums, telescope lenses,  glove molds, charms, collectible cigar bands, vintage Indonesian puppet dolls (handcarved, with articulated arms and legs).....as you can see it pretty much runs the gamut and this is the very tippy top of the iceberg.

Will keep you posted with further lists...
Hope you are having spring!  Ours has been a long time coming.
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