Interpreting Trappings 2021 by Hugh Atkins
Read what the artist says about Trappings
The only two moments of color in Trappings are the two faces, one of an African-American woman and one of an Asian-American woman. Both are entrapped by linear forces that try but fail to hide their uncompromising gaze. The corner pieces show grids that are attempts at containment that are incomplete or broken, while the central boxes in the lower part of the picture list great African- and Asian-American authors advancing into the central image, headed by a shard that implies the beginning of the end of racial intolerance.
The picture was inspired by attacks on Asian women during Covid and the senseless death of
Breonna Taylor.
The collaged elements were taken from pictures of skyscrapers, ship’s rigging and canoes. The rest of the illustration is pen and ink. My work tends to involve just such a mix of techniques, in part because of my being drawn to collage through the writing of a journal that I had maintained for thirty years although latterly it had become increasingly pictorial. This led me to pasting images into designs on deconstructed grocery bags, but they would always incorporate drawn and painted elements also. As I graduated to more conventional surfaces, I continued to experiment with mixed media and particularly with the surfaces of the works I produce.
I tend not to use PhotoShop or other computer aids, preferring to focus on a more hands-on approach that derives in part from my background in directing for the stage. When I used to contemplate mounting a dramatic production, I would first try to imagine a mood for the piece, just as I do now when envisaging image and color for a picture. I would begin rehearsals with a vision of how they would proceed, but I learned quickly that a formulaic approach would not work; there needed to be room for improvisation and for the accidents that all artists know will occur.
The pieces that I used in Trappings were the results of several such accidents. I had thought of the idea of trapped faces but I couldn't find images that suggested the idea rather than making it obvious. I was still thinking that the piece would be in color when I came across a series of black and white photographs of skyscrapers and I realized that arranging them at angles could create a claustrophobic atmosphere that would create a notion of imprisonment.
The divisions between windows made me think of ship's rigging, but I was left with the need for a final key image. By this stage, I had decided that the dominant colors would be black and white, so that determination focused the search. When I found the picture of the canoes, I was struck by the force of the image, but, as so often with collage, only when I cut them out and played with them did I discover how to use them. Using them perpendicularly as opposed to resting on a Pacific beach turned them into a sinister force rather than a benevolent one.
