Lita Kenyon
On occasion, I find myself opening discarded books and magazines in antique shops and flea markets. These are some of my resources for a series of collage/drawings I entitle, Later State Series. Later State is a book collecting term referring to a later run of a first edition book distinguished by a change in the binding or text in the first edition. In the Later State Series, I focus on subjects about socially transmitted beliefs, widely repeated cultural themes and mores, which intrigue me.
Mixing the collage elements with book paper appropriated from these discarded vintage books, I personalize the collage process with drawing, seeking to harmonize through the pairing of dissimilar elements. When an image becomes of interest to me, I attempt to challenge the significance of the image testing its symbolic and cultural references. I find this process can set forth its own language, visual or textual. The process of finding my way into the collage is exciting to me and in this process I hope to challenge tradition with individual pictorial language.
The Girl Wrestling series evolved from research and working with wrestler imagery in unison with the collage process. The term represents a perceived anxiety about women in general.
In the late 1970’s Lita Kenyon first attended art school studying drawing, painting and printmaking at Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri (BFA, 1980) and Northern Illinois University (MA, 1982).
Courtesy of the Artist
Lita Kenyon
www.litakenyonart.com
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