Collages!

Look what I found in a box! Old collages I made, or perhaps I should more aptly call them "Time Capsules". (This post is inspired by Cheryl over at Mystic Missive)

This first one is from our ten day tour of Amsterdam for the Gay Games in August of 1998. We went over for work and since work was paying, we spent A LOT of MONEY. It was a blast!

The collage includes ticket stubs from the opening and closing ceremonies, flyers for the artists that performed and brochures of tours and parties we attended. There's a map of the city center where we spent most or our time, hotel key, restaurant receipts... Wow, it's freaky to remember all this.

This one is representing a trip we took to Manhattan.
I think this was the first trip Lyle and I had taken to NYC together. It was after I had been unjustly let go from my job at Nordstrom and we took my 401k money and blew it on a trip to New York. The ticket stubs say 1997 so I guess we can place this time capsule. I remember exactly what I said after we saw the Broadway Musical "Titanic".

Lyle: "What did you think?"
Me: It was kinda' sad.
"Of course it was sad. It was the TITANIC! You do know that nearly everyone dies, right?"
Yeah, but I thought maybe they would have focused on the ones that survived...

The next night we saw "Jekyll & Hyde".
Lyle: "What did you think?"
Me: It was kinda' sad.
"Oh my god. Weren't you forced to read this story in school? Everyone knows how this ends!"
Um, I skipped a lot of high school...


And here we have Los Angeles:
This has all our "Staff" backstage passes to the events we used to volunteer for at APLA (Aids Project Los Angeles). We met EVERYONE and I was always too shy to speak or get a photo. Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Calvin Klein, Todd Oldham, Naomi Campbell, Jackie Collins, Liza Minelli, and on, and on, and on... It's funny, looking back, I remember meeting those famous people, but what I recall even more is how much fun we had with the other volunteers, our friends and just hanging out with each other.

I made these collages about 10 or more years ago and when I was done, I didn't even hang them up. Everything was a little too fresh in my mind and they seemed so cluttered. Now, they are going up on the wall. I need to remember more of these things and remember the joy of fresh experiences and the wonder of newness.

Welcome to my International Art Collection

Samuel Ruiz, Sobreimpresíon 60" x 36"

So when we went to Puerto Rico last April and I fell in love. With a piece of art. Lyle loved it as well. Neither of us was in love with the price so though I obsessed, ultimately we came home and the painting stayed there.

We returned to Puerto Rico in December and went back to the Galeria Botello see if the painting was still there. It was gone! But maybe... it was still close? Seems the artist had come to Puerto Rico as well and had taken the painting to try and sell at an art show in Miami. But had not left for Miami, yet.

So we returned the next day to meet the painting again. It was back and so were we. Hello painting. Hello lover. Prices were discussed, shipping was discussed. Drinks were offered. We bought our first piece of big art.

Now I have to redecorate the bedroom because the color is all wrong for this painting.

Samuel Ruiz, Painter, was born in Argentina, 1957. He has studied with different teachers: Mario Bustamante, Colombia (1976); Rodolfo Abularach, Guatemala (1983); Manuel Ayllon, Spain (1985); Juan Valladeras, Paris (1988); among others. Among the distinctions he has received: Mention, Biennial of Taiwan (1987); Mention, Gran Salon de Agosto, Foundation Gilberto Alzate, Bogota (1987); and First Prize, Salón del Desquite, Manizales (1983). The last years has had showings in the United States in Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia.