collage of the burnt out "shell" of Reeeves furniture store in Croydon with collaged bits from my earlier watercolour paintings of chairs and door - there are also 3 shells in this piece, assembeled on stretched linen canvas with some acrylic painting.
Mania, your piece, Riches to Rags - Reeves Corner, is very powerful. It's so chaotic and so organized at the same time. I guess that makes sense because it is about fire (arson) and violent looting/mobbing. I really like the upbeat colors that you selected, they contrast nicely with the dreary/drab photographs. The light blue/turquoise, red, orange, and yellow - pull me in. Great choice taking an early watercolor image and cutting it up, and then collaging it into this piece. It brings in a different speed and a feeling of personal memory/touch mark to the overall collage. It is interesting how you've selected to invert the common colloquialism "Rags to Riches" into "Riches to Rags". The Reeves furniture store that defined the Reeves Corner was over 150 years old and represented an English site of culture and commerce. However as global culture is going through financially unstable times right now, this seems very relevant. This is especially evident in the US and Europe, since the familiar notion of progress is ceasing to seem a reliable mode of cultural and societal evolution. The central chair that you represented in the collage, appears to be of non-Western origin, this combined with the cowry shells gives the piece a tinge of a Post-Colonial narrative to it. It is amazing how at one point in history the sun was said to never set on the British Empire - during England's colonial expansion peak. This glory contrasts sharply the country's recent self-maiming riots that took place in August 2011. Compositionally, I appreciate how you placed the torn found photographic images into horizontal strips - going from the lower lying rubble images, up to the vertical grouping of buildings. Your piece reads very successfully as an all-over composition and as a grouping of interesting detail elements. Congratulations.