Featured Collage art: trash?

I bought this for not too much.

It's made of power machine sand-paper disks, newspaper and (I think) black sand paper, all torn, affixed and varnished. It's 17" x 19" (43 x 48 cm) and mounted on 1" plywood.

No signature etc anywhere.

What do you all think? Is this just trash or is there evidence of someone more thoughtful than a bored (board?) woodworker?

Thanks!



Maybe it orients this way too-- looks possibly a little more landscape-ish this way, but, who knows? Not me.

 

For me as an abstract it works.

 

yeah, i like it too, doesn't strike me as a novice piece, its too well put together

 

This bit may have been used as a sort of signature -



I would be interested in seeing some details of the text used. Might it be from a book rather than a newspaper?

 

Great observation 2many.

 

Love mixed media works! The hook on the back should give you the orientation. I tried to read the print to see but it was too small for me. Fun piece!

 

Thanks for the ideas 2mb. It's def a book. (I don't know why I said newspaper.) Here's some close ups. Maybe it's a history of some sort?

 

now why didn't i think of that , good point laura

what way does that make the orientation PP ?

 

Here's the source of the illustrated letter.

https://www.alamy.com/the-earth-and...8820295d3a79d5bb9601f9f6533d0f38&searchtype=0

Debora

 

Based on the hanger, it's oriented correctly in the first pictures. I assume that's the way it goes, but I also conjectured that perhaps the artist was not the person who affixed the hanger, so maybe it could orient a different way. I suppose the hanger looks original.

 

Thanks Debora. "The Earth and its Inhabitants"... sounds like a quick read!

 

think i prefer the dragons foot way

 

My wife, who said she hoped I didn't spend more than about $7, saw a monster bunny rabbit.

 

Through the wonders of google, you could spend days tracking down the books used in that collage. As an example, I used the phrases "Sir Henry Sidney returned" and "He tells us himself" to find a likely source for one bit -

Mary-Frances Cusack: An Illustrated History of Ireland, From the Earliest Period. 1868.

https://books.google.com/books?id=G...idney returned" "He tells us himself"&f=false

 

Interesting! I woulda thought they were all the same text. Multiple texts speaks (to me at least) to more intentionality on the maker's part, which I guess is good.

Thanks again 2mb!

 

Ok-- I made a quick frame and threw it on the wall, at least for now. I think I like it. My 'poll' was a landslide negative: 'Trash' by a margin of 2-1. But what can you do?



Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

It benefits from the frame.

Debora

 

Frame works well. I instantly liked it a lot more!

 

Thanks @Boland!

 

It seems the "History of the World" is compiled from earlier books, including that "History of Ireland"
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...d+"He+tells+us+himself"&source=gbs_navlinks_s