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Lance
Letscher
at Howard Scott |
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Of
the 21 works at Howard Scott, The
Open Boat (2002) is the largest, measuring 45 by 69 inches.
It consists of hundreds of tiny rows, each row made of thin
rectangular shapes cut from old books.
The rows vary in texture and density, from single pages to
cardboard book covers, undulating in a wavelike pattern across the
horizontal composition. The
work evokes the open sea, as if the tide is about to carry away a
small boat, suggested by the shape of an oddly placed snippet of text.
The Farmer's Wife (2002) is a poetic portrayal of both character and
landscape. Antique notes
and ledgers recording the number of eggs collected from various hens
make up the collage. These
notations are combined with humorous pencil lists chronicling the
wife's intentions to expedite the hatching of the eggs; she plans
to set the chickens on goose eggs, the Rhode Island Reds on turkey
eggs. Alongside the notes
are various recipes for cakes and meringue cut from magazines.
Layered on top of these clippings are bits of solid-colored
book covers, suggesting an angular landscape. In Sad Cake (2002), another of the larger works, a quiltlike pattern is created from precisely cut triangular pieces of paper. Like cakes cut into slices, the triangles are arranged in circular forms that are layered to create pinwheel-shaped spirals. In the bottom right corner is a carefully clipped and preserved recipe for molasses nut squares. The
viewer is drawn close by Letscher's exquisite color and striking compositions,
and is then rewarded by the lively details of the letters, notes and
scraps of paper. The
artist's labor-intensive process of cutting and gluing thousands of
pieces of board and paper results in magnificent abstract pictures.
Letscher's labor becomes a fitting metaphor for the hard work
of the characters whose lives are chronicled in the very material
of these collages. |
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