SUNDIAL original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

Vintage papers are compiled together as a measure of time and texture. The idea for the piece was to create a work of art that spoke to the interactions and intersections of civilization and nature. Paper from magazines and books, being made in a civilized world, begins to break down when acted upon by the forces of nature. This sculptural work speaks to the beautiful forms that are created during this process of natural erosion.

  • Medium: vintage papers on wood
  • Size: 60.75" H x 60.75" W
  • Frame: wood frame with Museum Plexi
  • Hardware: ready to hang with D-rings on back
Process

Process

These colorful stacks are displayed from a bird’s-eye view in repetition in ever-larger concentric circles, evoking naturally-occuring mountain ranges, vast lakes, and ravines, alongside human-created farm fields, tiny towns and winding roads.

This sculptural work speaks to the interactions and intersections of civilization and nature, the micro-erosion of found materials superimposed on the macro-erosion of the larger landforms the stacks represent. Human-made materials - magazine pages, scraps of text and images from books, newsprint - break down when acted upon by forces of nature. The materials used here were collected over more than two decades of exploration and scavenging - finding by chance and by design - on curbs, in abandoned buildings, in overstuffed filing cabinets lining a junkyard. Distressed by time, wind, water, salt, sand, and moths, these papers straddle time: what they were in their original form and what they have become.

Each stack contains 20-25 unique pieces of paper, each with a hint to its former use in the tiny details still peeking through.

process
Limited Series

Limited Series

Each work in Dolan Geiman’s portfolio is unique and hand-crafted. Works indicated with “limited series” are reiterations of a recurring theme or concept.

A Certificate of Authenticity is available upon request.

  • Each piece in a limited series is created with an inimitable collection of found materials: no two are exactly alike, although they may look similar at a glance.
  • Details, colors, specific materials, typography and frame will differ from work to work.

Learn More

Dolan Geiman Paper Collages

Dolan's signature paper collage artwork celebrates America's West and Southwest. Color, composition, and detail come to life in hand-cut vintage materials, many salvaged in Dolan's cross-country travels.

Creating the original collage starts with a wood panel. Dolan pulls vintage sheet music from his vast collection and applies these to the wood, first with glue, then with a top layer of whitewash paint. In many prints, this background layer of sheet music peeks through.

Next, Dolan draws the outline for the original collage in graphite atop the sheet music.

Dolan returns to his extensive trove of collected papers – think magazines, antique textbooks, handwritten letters salvaged from abandoned farmsteads - and begins pulling the ideal colors for the piece. He cuts each piece of material by hand and carefully layers into the artwork. These collages are carefully crafted from thousands of small papers: no two are exactly alike.

Dolan's paper collages are finished in a handmade frame constructed from salvaged metal or a modern, minimal wood or metal frame.