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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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