Dots, fingerprints and squares -

"Chuck Close's Ride"
digital collage by Mick Mather

“Part of the joy of looking at art is getting in sync in some ways with the decision-making process that the artist used and the record that's embedded in the work.” - Chuck Close

NEW from The Mr Existence Series -

"Mr Existence Finds His Blue Poodle"
pen & ink with digital collage by Mick Mather

All the bright and sparkly colors in this piece are from an old pen & ink drawing I did in the 1970's. I was playing about and in up to my waist with pointillism at the time. As a slight diversion from one dot at a time, a few pieces used broader squares of color...similar, but not matching, a style that made Chuck Close a household name. So, jumping ahead some 25 years, I scanned the original, cropped it to fit my usual working frame and began looking at it - turning and looking, turning and looking. Not unlike those magic 3-D prints that reveal a hidden image once you figure out how to unfocus and allow it to jump out at you, I spotted something. Spot! As in "see Spot run!" Well, not exactly, since it's a French Poodle I happened to see...and so, after a bit of digital collage and the usual manipulations via the super secret array, voila! Was Mr Existence excited about finding that darned doggy? You can bet your flea-bitten collar that he was. :D