Originals

STRAUSS'S WALTZ original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

Vintage papers are compiled together as a measure of time and texture. These colorful stacks are displayed in repetition in a shadowbox to suggest an abstract interpretation of the specimen cabinet, the first architectural abstract piece I've created in two decades. 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: 50" H x 50" W (framed)
  • Frame: wood frame with Museum Plexi
  • Hardware: ready to hang with D-rings on back
Process

Process

Over the past few years, I have collected these smaller pieces of paper, most from the edges of the street, under an old desk in an abandoned house, behind a cabinet in an old warehouse. Many of them have been distressed by age, wind, water, sand, salt, being chewed on by insects, mice, you name it. After witnessing how nature has acted on these papers, I decided to assist in the process and do some of my own aging, adding to the process. Some papers were left in a creek, some taken out into the desert to be blown by the sand and wind for weeks, and some papers I placed in my own hands and ground down with sand and grit. Each stack contains about 20-25 pieces of paper, and each one tells an individual story: the closer you get, the more little details begin to pop out and become apparent. Even though the paper is man made and comes from the civilized world, the collected and distressed paper stacks have a greater likeness to lichen, agates, and other elements found in the natural world.

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.

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